Hearing new stuff, new bands, new material

Reza Udhin and Ed Luxmoore discuss their position in the scene, which, with the launch of Cryonica Records, is growing all the time.

Inertia have been knocking around the Goth/Industrial scene for the past 6 years. Despite major alternative dancefloor playlisting on both sides of the Atlantic and successful tours with bands like Das Ich, Spahn Ranch, Ultraviolence, and more recently Gary Numan and Sigue Sigue Sputnik, they have failed, so far, to cross over to a more mainstream position. According to Reza, they haven't really tried. "Crossover kind of things we did with our old band just didn't work. Mostly the audience just didn't want to hear it. Really, we've just been doing the scene."

Ed pointed out that their latest tour started out less scene-based than it has become. "When we played Glasgow there were lots of different people there. It was an alternative Goth night, but also you had your regular students coming along. They all loved it and they all danced regardless. I think that's really positive. The Goth scene's quite small and introspective, so it'd be nice to take it a bit further."

Inertia was formed after the collapse of Ed and Reza's last band, Mutagenic. It has only recently become a proper "band" with much of their previous live appearances consisting of Reza and a backing tape. One such gig, in LA's Das Bunker club, led to the inclusion of 'Defender' on the club's compilation CD. "I'd been in LA for around 6 months and we'd played a lot of shows out there. The club is great, probably one of the best clubs in the States."

Reza has noticed a big difference in the attitude towards alternative music in Britain, when compared to the rest of the world, in particular the Goth/Industrial side of things. "Look at Germany and the big festivals over there, from indie bands to industrial bands. It's accepted as the main alternative scene in Europe and America as well. I think it's a little harder in England to accept this sort of scene as alternative, they just turn a blind eye to it. I think England needs to be more open-minded in what they're hearing. If it's on the radio, they think 'that's great, fair enough', that's what they're into. They need to be hearing new stuff, new bands, new material."

One of the more frustrating aspects of these genre divisions relates to the new breed of dance bands. Reza points out that The Chemical Brothers, even Underworld and The Prodigy, have a very EBM backing, but they receive a lot more attention coming from the dance scene than bands like Inertia do, coming from the Gothic/Industrial scene. "At the same time, we're doing more of a song-based thing, it doesn't really cross over to the techno scene. That's how it works out really".

Ed, however, points to a more facile reason for the division - image. "It's down to the right photographs. I can only imagine that people will become jaded with only listening to instrumental songs. Perhaps there will then be an opportunity for us to go ahead and be accepted by more people."

Inertia are not prepared to rest on their laurels and wait for this to happen. Having led the revolution in Nightbreed Records away from the older Goth sound towards a more diverse roster, they are now branching out on their own with a new label, Cryonica. The band gets very annoyed with people who have a major rock star attitude and are unwilling to do anything to help the bands around them. Reza points out that the tours with Das Ich and Spahn Ranch made no money, but that they were working together to kickstart the scene. "You need people who work well together, but there are the odd people who do try and spoil it for the scene, newer bands who think they are Andrew Eldritch. You just can't have it in the scene at all, it just kills it."

And keeping the scene alive is what Ineria are about, with their own material, their innumerable collaborations and compilations and, from June, with Cryonica Music, which promises to present the best in innovative Electro-Industrial music.

by Girl the Goth