1. Hello Kevin. Could you introduce yourself? How old are you? Where do you live and work?

S.R.F.: Currently I'm in Toronto (Canada), and I'm actually old enough to remember when "Pong" was a state-of-the-art video game (you may draw your own conclusions from that!)


2. What was the main reason that you decided to create music in ambient genre?

S.R.F.: I think I've always kind of been into of music that values the asthetics of sound at least as much as (and sometimes more than) composition. Ambient music is a perfect place to explore this idea of "non-compositions" where noise is more like something to be sculpted as opposed to music which is based on established song-like architectures. I'm not a musician, but I've always loved playing around with sound and SRF gives me the opportunity to maybe create something that's just as interesting to listen to as a great "song".


3. Is SLEEP RESEARCH FACILITY your first musical activity?

S.R.F.: Not really, I've messed around with different things in the past since I was kind of young, but SRF is the first thing I chose to really pursue as project, see how far I could take it.


4. I'd like to ask you about genesis of the name of your project.

S.R.F.: Some of my deepest listening experiences have been inside a set of headphones, hovering in the fuzzy grey area between being awake and being asleep. SRF is like a testing ground for pushing further into that grey area, prolonging suspension in it, experimenting with and looking for sound and stimuli that enhances it.


5. Can you tell about your very first musical inspirations?

S.R.F.: Ohhh, it's hard to remember that far back, there were so many things I used to listen to when I was younger. Landmarks would definetly be things like "Twitch" by Ministry (or indeed ANYTHING before Al Jourgensen re-invented himself as a guitar wielding rock 'n roller). Old (OLD) Skinny Puppy - especially the early "Bites/Remission" cassette release. Ummm, what else... the day someone gave me a copy of "Freedom of Choice" by DEVO was a watershed moment and any old Front 242 or Nitzer Ebb would feature prominently. Scarrier stuff like Throbbing Gristle, occassionally noise-core like Whitehouse and 'Neubauten would get a play, "Negativeland" for their leftist anti-establishment culture-hacking cut-ups, the B52's for their uncomprising, quirky pop, all sorts of stuff really... punk and thrash, hardcore, electro, heavy metal, fringe classical. I was fortunate to have hosted a weekly radio show on community radio for two years, the station had a HUGE music library.


6. Your first album was called "Nostromo". To be honest I never heard it. Is it referrence to Ridley Scott's "Alien"?

S.R.F.: It is indeed (my favorite film).




7. Could you compare "Nostromo" and "DeepFrieze"? Do you still like your debut after all those years?

S.R.F.: Since Cold Spring has re-released "Nostromo" it's intersting to hear the two albums back to back. There's a similar vibe, but I think the overall sound of an SRF project is largely dependent on subject matter, and since the subject matter for those two projects was fairly different, the resulting sound is different accordingly. Also, the albums were created using different methods of production and equipment which I think separates them from each other a bit as well.




8. Lustmord & Biosphere, two ambient "legends". I think that SRF stands exactly in the middle of the way between them. Which of this two projects is more important for you? Or maybe you don't like both of them?

S.R.F.: I'm utterly flattered that you would consider sandwiching SRF in between those two names, I actually love them both.


9. The titles of the tracks on "DeepFrieze" are geographical coordinates. Are they any specific places on Antarctica (maybe something important happened there), or just random points?

S.R.F.: Completely random except for the fact that I tried to pick locations scattered fairly evenly accross the land-mass.


10. Have you ever been on Antarctica?

S.R.F.: No, But I grew up in rural Ontario, Canada (and anyone whose spent a winter out there will tell you it's the best next thing!).


11. What feelings or emotions do you try to bring to the listener with "DeepFrieze"?

S.R.F.: Isolation, tranquility, introspection, consideration of what could possibly be one of the last great unexplored regions of the planet.


12. How important are field recordings for you during creating music?

S.R.F.: Quite important, actually. Though I like to think of location-recordings as more like raw material for further digital manipulations. When pre-made synthetic sounds are so boring and cliche, the ability to create a completely new and unheard noise through hammering and bending something else is irrestible. Location recordings are ideal for this. I like to use them like digital-audio playdough - mashing them up in an electronic environment until something interesting and original and different comes out - most often the end result doesn't sound like the original recording, but it's interesting and fun to try to carry over some of the essence of what attracted me to the sound in the first place.




13. Is there a place for a man or any other form of life in your musical vision of the world?

S.R.F.: I hope so. Even though SRF can perhaps come across as seeming rather desolate at first, I try to inject a subtle warmth into it. So much "dark" ambient is reflective of emptiness lately, it's like "coffin" music (all gloom 'n doom) and of course this stuff has it's place, but with SRF I don't want to paint too sinister a picture - edgey maybe, suspenseful yes, but not oppressive.


14. What do you think - will still growing developement of high technology help us to "reach the stars", explore the universe, or rather will it earlier cause fading of humanity, maybe its extinction?

S.R.F.: Technology is neither bad nor good, it's what people do with it that defines whether we see it as beneficial or detrimental to humanity. Explosives are technology, however the fact that we use them to blow each other up makes us see them as bad, whereas the reality is that explosives are simply a tool that could be put to uses other than killing each other (we just TEND to use them for destruction so we think of them as a bad thing). All technology is the same, whether it'll enhance our existence or cause our extinction is entirely up to us.


15. What is the greatest dream of Kevin Doherty?

S.R.F.: We'll come to our senses.


16. And greatest fear?

S.R.F.: We'll blow ourselves up, before we come to our senses (see previous answer regarding using explosives and technology).


17. What is ambient for you? Is it background music (like in Eno theory), music as a drug which stimulates imagination, or maybe completely something else?

S.R.F.: Hmmm, "ambient" for me really means something able to set a mood or create an enveloping, consuming atmosphere if you'll let it. Ambient music doesn't neccassarily equate background music at all in my books (though Eno's definition which states that it must be as "ignorable as it is interesting" IS a very eloquent and often appropriate soundbite). Also, I think considering music as "ambient" is very dependant on the space into which it's being played. There are no hard and fast rules, it's not black and white. something might feel ambient played into one environment, but seem very upfront and present if played in another, different environment.


18. I'd like to ask you about your collaboration with Cold Spring? I assume you're satisfied so far?

S.R.F.: Yes, Justin (who runs the label) is utterly dedicated to providing a quality outlet for non-mainstream music. I might not listen to everything they release, but I have the upmost respect for the label's output. In a world when digital technology allows everyone and their auntie to launch a "record label" flooding the sound-sphere with mp3s and cdr's it's nice that some people will still stick by their guns, be selective about who and what the sign, and put out great releases with beautiful packaging.


19. Do you have any favourite releases from their catalogue?

S.R.F.: "Sacred Flesh" soundtrack from Band of Pain is (still) superb.


20. Can you tell me few words about your future plans?

S.R.F.: Hopefully there'll be a new SRF disc out next year (the foundations are there), and playing live is definetly going to be a priority in the near future as well.


21. Thank you Kevin for your precious time. Last words are yours.

S.R.F.: Many (many) thanks to everyone who has been kind enough to offer encouragement and shown enthusiasm for SRF over the last couple of years, it means so much! Cheers very much!




Stark



info:

www.myspace.com/sleepresearchfacility
www.resonance-net.com