Interview- Torsion Effect

It's me, Zeph, again folks bringing you yet another Awesome interview with an Awesome band!

Zeph How did you come up with the name of your band, Torsion Effect? Who are the current members of the band?

TE Torsion Effect gets its name from a number of different sources. As an Industrial-electro project, we get much of our inspiration from the Sciences, including non-mainstream science and what most people would consider out there ideas and fringe Science. In our Professional life, we are no stranger to fringe Science.

One of our name influences comes from the work Mark Rodin has done with his coil design (Google [Rodin Coils] for more information on this fascinating topic) and the B-field Torsion Generator. Source: https://jnaudin.free.fr/html/magvtx.htm

Torsion Effect also gets its name from other fields of research spanning from the study of fluid physics, fluid flow through pipe systems, astrophysics and stellar core studies (Goggle [Torsion Effects on Neutrino Emission from Dense Collapsing Cores]). Hint: Science is a central area of this project's interest.

Without our interest in Science, it's very unlike this project would have taken on the depth of subject matter we explore both in and out of the recording studio environment. One of our goals with the project is to make Science (both mainstream and fringe Sciences) hip and sexy to those individuals that would otherwise have no interest in discovering really what's so amazing about having an inquisitive Mind. Human Consciousness by its very nature seeks new experiences.

At the moment, I, Resofactor, am the only full time member of Torsion Effect. I have an associate and collaborator, my best friend from my high school years, that assists as an extra pair of ears and sound designer when available. He'll assist on any live work should we really have the motivation to playing live venues.

If not, I'll have to find another musician or other assistants to fill in for live support, promotions, video recording & direction as needed. Dancers? Well, I love dancers. For many reasons! Dance choreography I think would add an additional edge to any live work we have planned, if ever. We're not going to make comment or commitments on that side of the project yet. It all remains to be seen.


Zeph When was Torsion Effect formed and what inspired you to create the band?

TE Torsion Effect was officially formed sometime in 2007, however, the seeds of the project go as far back as my teen/high school years when I first started digging into the wide world of sound design and learning synthesis as a hardcore area of study. What inspired me to create the band? Was to find the right banner and branding that I-we could fly under as a means to express my-our creativity and reach an audience willing to listen(or not) to the presentation of information and ideas behind us.


Zeph Tell us about your unique style of music and who are your major influences?

TE I wouldn't really say it's a unique style we have, not considering who our contemporaries are or considering how many bands there are in the market today. We like Industrial/EBM/Electronica/Trance/Dnb and other popular styles of today. We just do what do and hopefully other fans out there will tune into what we're doing both inside and outside of the project. IMHO what I'm up to in my Professional life is even more amazing and inspiring than the music. At least to me anyways...

Musically speaking? First and foremost our primary influence is Clock DVA. Others are listed on our page @ https://www.myspace.com/torsioneffect Back in the 90s I'd managed to catch their video for "Sound Mirror" on the WaxTrax BlackBox collection. It was unlike any other video or song on that entire collection. "Sound Mirror" seemed to even come from a completely different time period, better yet another world.

When I heard the hypnotic ice cold melodies, Adi Newton's whispered voice, and watched the strobing video collage; I thought to myself... "This is the direction and field of music I'd like to work in one day." So, here we are now almost a decade later from that fateful day. I would say I'm only really just getting started in music. Even if I've been screwing around with synths and electronic noise making gizmos since I was seven years old.


Zeph What sort of equipment do you use in the making of your music?

TE At the moment most of our studio environment can be considered virtual or software based. I used to have a home studio with an assortment of over twelve hardware synths and various hardware samplers and outboard effects units. I sold all of it over the years just to cover bills and get by when I was going through hard times.

Honestly, even if I had all the money I needed to invest in hardware? I think I'd still stick with the setup we have now spare getting a more powerful PC and a handful of other outboard pieces to fill in here and there where needed. Via software and know how - I pretty much have every type of synth and tone generation source I'll ever need. Even five to ten years from now into the project? If I never get another piece of hardware or software, I say we're covered for the long term. Even with the software we have now.

My main piece of software is Fruityloops Studio 8 Producer Edition. People knock it, but I think many people out there really haven't given it a chance. I have a copy of Logic Audio Platinum for PC I never use much these days. That should tell you something right there. I have a CEM UF6 MIDI controller I use for playing live synth parts into my DAW, a black Ibanez GAX70 (my Goth-bitch I call her-lol), and that pretty much rounds out the current set up. I've never been more happier with the music setup I than the one I have today.

The hundreds of third party VSTs we have more than make up for our lack of hardware. Just having a Nordlead 2 in the corner of your studio won't make your end result sound good. I've heard even Bill Leeb of Frontline Assembly has sold off much of the hardware he's collected over the years. It really comes down to talent and knowing how to use what you have to work with. We believe in that aspect of the cyberpunk attitude. It's alive and well in Torsion Studios. Thank you very much.


Zeph Does Torsion Effect play live? If so what are your favorite venues? If not then do you plan to do so in the future?

TE Live? That's an interesting misnomer when it comes to electronic music. Live!? lol We'll consider playing live venues only if we see a significant market demand for our presence. I think this is one area too many bands make a mistake on. Playing live. If you're playing to a venue to 50 or less people, something is amiss and your promoting isn't doing a good job. Our other alternative(s)?

Will be to continue writing music and doing multi-media video compilations (sort of like what Clock DVA did with their Kinetic Engineering video collection), Torsion Effect officially released videos uploaded via YouTube and-or MySpace, or having live studio performances streamed over broadband. We'd probably use a service like NowLive (https://www.nowlive.com/) to capture live studio performances.

The way I see it? There's tons of concert footage of bands like Seabound, Icon of Coil, Frontline Assembly, Skinny Puppy, and others up there online to watch of concerts I-we weren't able to attend overseas. So? What's the difference? As silly as this may sound, we'll probably just get a drum riser for our studio (after it's set up for such) to use as a stage, add some track lighting and intelligent lighting, get a sound and lighting guy to help out, and just gig out of our studio!

Why tour? lol Do you know how much money we can save this way and move to other parties that will produce results to get us viewers online?? Besides, we could play almost any night of the week and never worry about the regular hassles touring bands have to deal with. We'll try that route before embarking on any road tours. Plus there is the day job I have and Career track I am working on. As a budding Executive, why compromise one life for the other? When proper management and allocation allows me to have them both!


Zeph What has been your biggest challenge with Torsion Effect thus far?

TE Biggest challenges? Have been numerous: Years of struggle after I switched job fields, the .com crash combined with the IT jobs crash (was an IT recruiter many years ago) after 9/11, selling off damn near everything I owned, or losing the rest my belongings I had left in storage in my parents shed that was flooded and ruined in Hurricane Rita, all while I was out traveling the Southwest for business opportunities and looking to find my fortune.

I would say from 2002-2006 were completely dead years as far as my music writing, creative outlets, and music creation goes. Very difficult years to bear. Only in 2007 can I say any momentum started gaining on the music front. Like I said, the challenges have been numerous. I'm not that different than most of my friends.

Not just in regards to music, but the whole Life picture; The Career thing, being an Entrepreneur, being part of launching three post start-up companies in Florida, looking for Capital while the economy tanks and sinks, being in a new town with very few friends, trying to make friends in scene very reluctant on welcoming new comers into their fold. 10x's so if you're a musician from out of town.

On a personal level? The biggest challenge for myself for the past five plus years is being completely on my own and not having the right girl at my side. No one there when I go to sleep, to curl against, and wake up next to. I'm sure at least one girl out there knows what I'm talking about. Building my dream(s) has/have demanded many sacrifices.

The biggest challenge for Torsion Effect, honestly, I don't think is the band itself, but the new Science we promote and will co-promote outside of the band's interest. I don't know how to say this in terms most people would believe or accept; but I work with a mostly unknown Scientist from Croatia born 100 years after Nikola Tesla.

His Genius can be compared akin to an Einstein or Tesla by today's standards. His Discoveries are unlike anything prior Science can even begin to fathom. What this Science stands to make possible is nothing short of revolutionary. In time we will begin to understand this as the beginning of the next Renaissance. It will happen in our lifetimes. Tesla foretold his arrival.


Zeph What are some of the highlights of Torsion Effect and what are your goals for the future... such as where do you hope to be with Torsion Effect 5 years from now?

TE Five years from now? We stand to be a very well known entity in the music field, but I think that it will be more for Science and our voice for it, more so than just the music itself. The energy exchange process was already discovered and coined by the Scientist I work with, however, the inter-change process I've discovered and named along with several new Terms of this Science as this gentleman's Assistant - establishes the relationship, indeed, the process of how to communicate with other physical Universes outside of our own. We are so beyond Quantum Physics at times even I cannot believe it all. It's all theoretical now for the most part at this level (aside from what has been proven in the lab), but our understandings this Science are there. At least in principal.

The music at times seems a little less fascinating than does our our day-to-day. That's what motivates me to get up in the morning! Wouldn't you agree? We hope to continually get better with and write music I-we and others will enjoy. We have now and endless pool of ideas and themes to draw from. On our hard drive alone we have over 600 or more projects we can develop into new songs. No shortage of material here!

Still, all in all, I consider our music pursuits small compared to what our day job duties and what our responsibilities will entail. After all, a revolution in Science is no small thing to be a part of. Ask Galileo or Copernicus. In a way, they are my friends as much as these Gentlemen are each of our friends. Remember: new knowledge forwards our world into unrealized possibilities!


Zeph Are you currently working on or planning any new releases?

TE We have about six tracks uploaded to our music profile. One of them, "Mezmerized", may appear on the first official Torsion Effect release "Trans-Dimensional Contact" which gets much of its inspiration from Clock DVA's "Sign" CD. Our Science, in a way, is a continuation or where "Sign" left off. Tran-Dimensional Contact doesn't have an official release date yet. Nor do we pretend to have one coming any time soon.

It could be another year or two years before we commit to a release date. We're going to see how the market responds beforehand. Most artists should get into pre-release test marketing!! It's amazing how un-business savvy many artists are today and release a CD into a market with no demand for their product. No wonder more CDs don't sell. There's no demand if there's no demand. It's a simple equation.


Zeph What are your views on the current Electro/Industrial scenes?

TE They're suffering very badly from closed-mindedness and clique/snob ethics. This is small behavior. Certain groups of individuals dominate the DJ/club culture and new artists in the scene not playing up the group-ego politics get little to any support. Even more so if you call them out on it. Also, if you're not an industrial cyber-whore fashion fiend, but your music is, you'll get treated strangely if you don't pander to certain beliefs or popular slogans.

Stompy comes to mind. 10 years ago stompy didn't exist as far as I know. I don't care either way if anyone relates to it or not. I honestly don't care if it's a hip word today. It will die out just as darkwave, coldwave, futurepop, and other buzzwords of yesteryear have fallen away. It means nothing to us. Trends come and go. Good music remains. Leave it where it falls.


Zeph What are your views on collaborations and do you have any collaborations coming up?

TE Other than in my Professional circle related to my day time activities? No. No collaborations planned. I can't say I'm looking forward to any either. A female vocalist contributing to this project may be a welcome addition, but that remains to be seen. I would rather in many ways be collaborating with a signif other/Muse/girlfriend than just some random artist that found me online and wanted to contribute vocals. The chemistry has to be right, regardless of the capacity. The worst part? I'm probably difficult to work with. So I've been told.


Zeph How long have you been in the music industry and how has it changed over time?

Well, I've been observing the Industry since I was in my teens and watching the technological innovations that go along with it. From my vantage point, that's where it's changed quite a bit. The Culture? In many ways hasn't changed all that much. Sure 80s glam-metal, grunge, nu-metal, and other styles have come; but the structure of the music industry remains: sell as many units of product as possible. That side of the Industry will never change. How it's done? Well that's another story.


Zeph Where do you typically get your inspiration for songs?

TE Women! Oh yes. The greatest Muse of them all. Add Science, Religion, Politics, and this crazy-ass backwards-ass world we live in? No shortage of ideas. Like I said, over 600 projects on hard disk just waiting to finalize as finished songs. We have quite a database of material to grow and mature into. And? Inspiration to match!!


Zeph If there were one thing you could change about the music industry today what would it be?

TE Broadcasting to other Realities not visible from our own. Getting a trans-dimensional listener base and listeners on other worlds. How's that for far-out? Who wants to help make that happen?


Zeph How do you feel about the issue of people downloading music and sharing music on the internet?

TE It exists. Nothing will change it. Adapt to it. Use it as a vehicle so that others are listening to you.


Zeph  How is Torsion Effect being received by the public? Has the response been good?

TE As a band entity? Or the music itself? It's hard to say at times. It's all so subjective. I mean, really think about it; you're in a band few people have heard of. You claim to work with the next Great Mind of this Century. How would most people respond to that?

That I'm some kind of a nutjob? Or ego-centric maniac just shouting out big names in History? If I were telling the Truth? Would the public at large even begin to believe in me or us or what our Science will make possible? I doubt it. Most people considered the Wright Brothers a bunch of loons and yet they gave us the airplane as well as several milestone advances in the field of Aerodynamics. We'll give your world a new Science and new technologies, eventually. Torsion Effect isn't just about its music.

The music? I had a seventeen year old say our sounds were the "bestest." That meant a lot. More so than most of our profile comments. I remember when I was seventeen just really getting into the whole music scene and wondering what I would be capable of doing one day. I don't know. It's really up the individual to make of our work what they will. It's really not my place to say how we are received or not.


Zeph Is there anyone special you would like to acknowledge, and anything you'd like to add?

TE Kudos to all of our influences, thank you for your gift of music into my life. A special nod to Adi Newton and all former members of Clock DVA, Peter Stone of Xorcist (another great influence), my parents, my friend Michael, girls I've loved, girls that have loved me, my friends, fans, supporters wherever you are, my Professional circle, Tom for bringing MySpace to become what it is today, Tommy T over at DSBP records (he's a rare fire in today's scene), Side-Line and Alfa Matrix just for keeping the site going, Shirow and the Digital Gunfire crew, Rob over at Capacity for taking us on, supporters and fans of this genre, and most of all...YOU that has taken the time out of their day to read this interview.


Zeph Thank you very much for taking the time to do this interview with me. It is very appreciated and I hope to speak with you again soon.

TE No problem, Zeph. We appreciate the interview. I-we can be reached via MySpace @ https://www.myspace.com/torsioneffect Stay tuned for updates.