Liane: Why don't you tell me from the very beginning about the origins of the band name and why you spell it the way you do.
Peter: The band name came from finishing up in a band in 1986-7 that I thought wasn't hard enough. I decided that I would do something project wise, something more personal called Xorcist. I dropped the E because it was kind of twist of the good & evil, yin & yang type thing. Ex was to stigmatized as being pure evil, there was a metal band called Exorcist it sounded too speed metal. So I kept the X, and for a while thought about accentuating it to make it kind of like the pornography of our world, not just sexual pornography but the extreme of violence, love, whatever have you. Also mixed in was the possession of it all kind of intertwining together.
Liane: So the name itself didn't all come from one source?
Peter: Correct, but it wasn't too detailed of an explanation. I've heard people saying that I should have spelled it "Xorcyst".
Liane: So the band is just you?
Peter: Just me except for when we play live.
Liane: And who does the live band consist of?
Peter: It changes. Right now it consists one other member. Just two people on stage which is kind of hard to pull off. The other member is Xavier Hate from a band called Malign. Whom happens to be one of co-owners of the club I run, House Of Usher. However the reason I am using him is because he is a competent musician. It it not to say that there are not many competent musicians, just not many of them with their own gear, their own car, and have a day job that can afford to practice and can afford to play. Previously I was using Don Blanchard another girl that I know who were both in the first live shows, but they both sold their gear and got jobs.
Liane: So live are you pretty much electronic or do you get into guitars like a lot of bands seem to?
Peter: No, I never would use a guitar. I wanted to create without the use of guitars as they are also overused in today's 'industrial'/'cyber' music. I do have a percussive instrument that I play that look like a guitar but it is not that is about as far as it will go. Drums are all pads trying to keep everything electronic. It isn't just drum samples I try to stay away from that.
Liane: Do you have any new projects going?
Peter: At the moment because I am inundated with so much other crap in my life. So much other stuff. I don't have anything in the works. I do have a plans on the horizon, but it is going to take a year to complete at least. It is kind of top secret and I'm not saying what it is but going to be of epic proportions. People will either laugh at it our dig it. it is not going to be the same old hat kind of stuff. The big thing is not going to be a female singer, guitars and total production change of sound. It is probably going to be a double CD type of thing. It is going to require a lot of work and some legal mumbo jumbo.
Liane: How about touring? I know you had this Hawaiian gig coming up soon.
Peter: I played a show at Usher with Cassandra Complex and was supposed to go on tour with them for the states route, but circumstances beyond my control caused it to fair for me but be mildly successful for Cassandra Complex. I hope to tour eventually but it's to be seen.
Liane: Why don't you tell me a little bit about your stage show? Do you have an a vision of what you want to look like or does it just fit the music?
Peter: It is a little bit of both. There are a lot of visual elements when we play live. One show we all came out in robes and chains and it was really a fucking side show almost. I had visuals of light designs on a giant mesh screen that when you hit it a part of it lit up. There was a trigger that would make an explosion of sorts. There is always a visual element. There are the video drums that I use as well. You hit a drum pad and a video image appears on large monitors. I am working on trying to get that to be a moving video thing in conjunction with triggers. When I can afford the time to create it there is always a visual element. The last show I just did it wasn't that big of an element but I try to ascribe for something more visual because when your an electronic band you need some sort of eye candy. I've seen bands who have come out on stage and beat themselves and they have just bombed hellaciously. There is a reason that I am doing it. The video accentuates some of the meaning of some of the songs. When the tour comes out there will visuals of some sort other than three guys jumping around in stage screaming and throwing shit.
Liane: I saw that on the most recent album that you did for Iron Helix. How did you get involved with the video game industry?
Peter: Iron Helix came to me through the Cyberden. When I started the Cyberden, the idea was to connect those doing music of "Gothic/Industrial" caliber to an open audience. I was providing the ability for people to here samples of music. This guy got online and listened to a few bands and told me that my stuff was what he was looking for and he asked me to submit music to him. One thing lead to another and that is how I got involved with them. They knew of my sound work involved with other projects like Aeon Flux so they knew I was able to work on the sound effects and being a programmer they knew that they could use me to do a complete job and really understand the total process. They gave me the artwork and the visuals and I composed the music and the lyrics behind it. That is probably the only thing that I composed both the music and the lyrics together with a current existing theme. We play it live as a longer version. The version on the album is the long one, the version on the CD-ROM is the short one. I see the Cyberden as being a way for a lot of unknown bands of this type to get into the industry, making contacts and all.
Liane: Your are obviously very much into computers. How much is an influence have computers have had on your music?
Peter: It is all influenced. I would sit next to a computer with an AM radio and listen to the bizarre noises that the circuitry would emanate. I found that more musical that a lot of the shit that I was listening to on the radio so it all stems from electronics one way or another. I am very interested in computers. I was ditching school to play video games and hit Radio Shack. I left school my last year to get a job at a software company which paid more than my high school counselor made. When he found this out he told me to get out of high school and that I would be a fool if I didn't take the job. He understood that technology the way it is moving to fast and if you don't have a hold on it you will be working at McDonald's flipping burgers. It is not as dramatic as that but I think it was a situation where I was more fascinated by being able to use an instrument and have it reflect it what you want it to express. Some people are happy using a guitar, some people suck at it, some people are great at it. Electronic music was my outlet. Some of my early stuff I'm sure sucked. I think the reason why I got into computers and electronics for music was because unlike a guitar and a single keyboard there is no end to how many devices of output you can use.
Liane: I noticed that and I really enjoyed the depth of sound of your music.
Peter: I'll just keep stacking. Some people think it's great to get away with a single drum machine and you'll dance around and stomp on things but I personally think there is more to it. I have found myself going more into an ambient, inner self kind of thing and really using the machines to portray emotion of sorts. So computers have everything to do with my life and is probably what will kill me eventually.
Liane: I think that the audience that you are trying to speak to in your music is genuinely understanding of that.
Peter: Some are, and some still come to the shows and say, "This ain't music!" They don't understand when you do one man shows you are still playing a one or two people part. What is on DAT tape is what you'd have to hire 30 or 40 other musicians to play and people don't seem to have that grasp yet. You get out a guitar, a bass and some drums and you can create enough of a backbone because it is what the stigma is and is easy to figure out.
[ Mild interruption as a House Of Usher security guard asks Peter a few
questions about someone who is too meet him later. Peter and the guard harass
me a bit on the tape for kicks. The rest of the interview degrades into a mess
of unintelligible sounds, sexual innuendo and parrot squawking and the
interview ends.]