MUX / Vancouver, BC

[mux]

Name/Alias
MUX

Hometown: Vancouver, BC
Genre(s): live-pa acid rave techno
Affiliations: Pod6, Black Hole Club

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Sets/CD's for Download

http://mux.ca/audio/livesets/mux_-_l...e_20061216.mp3

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Website(s)

MUX Live-PA Website - Home
The Black Hole Club official web site

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What events have you played at?

oh jeeze... really? I don't have an easy list... since 2002 I've performed 30+ times. All over BC, Calgary, Halifax, Seattle, Bellingham, Richmond Virginia, etc.

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Years behind the gear: 8

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What originally hooked you into the live-pa scene?

I played guitar in a bar band in college, doing a residency at a few pubs, when I got bit by the electronic music bug around 1997. I immediately traded my best accoustic guitar for a pair of synthesizers and started screwing around in my bedroom. It wasn't until I saw a video for the Crystal Method that I had any idea electronic music could be performed live, but I knew the second I saw it that that was what I had to do.

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What type of music do you specialise in?

acid techno with my own twists, lots of ripping leads, big basslines and spazzy samples.

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Most expensive vinyl that you have paid for? - how much was it?

a 45 of Gowan's "(You're A) Strange Animal": $4.99.

(hey, that was a lot of money in grade four!)

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What is your most treasured gear and why?

my most beloved bit: the roland SH-101. we go way back.

my most trusted to get the job done: the Waldorf Pulse. beefy and unforgiving analogue bass.

my favourite fuck-around-and-make-something-awesome: the Nord Micro Modular, the swiss army knife of synths. hugely underrated.

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Have you got any funny/horrific show stories?

ok, fine, a long one:

my first ever gig (1998?) was my worst. me and my friend Tom got booked in Calgary, so we threw the *entire* studio in a passenger van, along with three or four roommates, and headed over the mountains, a 12h drive with a plan to discuss what to do for our set during the drive. We had a bunch of patterns, and he had a set of aaaaancient electronic drums and an R8, and I was gonna rock the arpeggiators... anyway. no actual set-planning happened on the trip; we mostly smoked weed and slept. my favourite memory of the whole trip was a very quiet late-night backseat blowjob from my gf. :D

The R8 picked up some glitch from the journey, or something, and it was playing the crash cymbal with every basskick... like CRASH! CRASH! CRASH! CRASH-CRASH-CRASH!. then it gave up the ghost entirely, but not quietly - this massive BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ! sound at the full volume the soundsystem was capable of, much louder than our music was immediately prior. when we figured out it was the R8, and Tom unplugged it, the awful noise stopped and we could, um, continue the show.

the sound guy got up on stage at that point, gestured to me to come listen to what he had to say - he said "smell that? that's the amp burning. don't make that noise again!!".

we tried to recover, but that was our main drum machine, so Tom jumped on the drumkit, which he, er, hadn't really practiced much with. in fact, we hadn't really practiced more than maybe once or twice if at all. we continued to offend the hundred or so people who were there for another ten minutes, then tried the R8 again, which miraculously worked. at that point we actually had something of a jam going, and I think three or four people ventured out on the dancefloor.

then the noise happened again. we knew what it was this time and got the R8 unplugged, but not before making everyone in the building wince and cover their ears. the soundguy shook his head and started across the room towards the soundboard - I jumped off stage, ran up to him and said "I'm sorry I'm sorry we know what caused it we thought it was fixed we won't turn that gear on anymore PLEASE LET US FINISH!!!". he said "final warning!" and went back to his chair.

it was way too late to recover. we limped along for a few minutes more, Juno-60 arpeggios, Juno-2 fingered wanking and TR-505 beats and a guy banging away on a set of vdrums playing 80's pcm samples, with no direction whatsoever, feeling like dirt. Finally we bailed - Tom put on the minidisc he'd prepared for the occasion, a four-minute recording of him playing breakbeats a drumkit, followed by a Scarface sample, and proceeded to smoke weed on stage from an enormous pipe. I slunk away in disgrace.

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What do you like the most about performing?

Getting into that zone where the music I'm making is making people go off, and feeding off that energy to make me go off, ever upwards in this crazy dancefloor energy feedback loop. There's that spot where you build and build and build the music, then break it down for a bar and drop it back in HARD, and the whole place goes nuts, hands in the air and yelling - that moment is the only reason I do any of this shit.

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What does your name signify?

MUX is geek shorthand for 'multiplexor', a device that takes a bunch of different streams of information and merges them into one coherant stream for transfer over a single cable.

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Who are your influences /or shoutouts?

All the BHC kids, Farshad and crew, the Lotus crowd... god, there's way too many to list. :)

[project.one]

BIG UPS!

One of the best talents out there! Cant wait to see you play live again!

*pounders the last time he actually saw Mux play*

[Digital Over]

Saw a video of this guy doing live pa on THE SKYTRAIN, All I can say is SO SICK, and mad respect. Good stuff here for sure

[dermatitis]

heard he's gonna be playing a renegade party this weekend..

[swytch]

YO! Can't wait to do some abelton battles! Hit me up anytime man,
was nice meeting you.

[mux]

come out tomorrow night man. :)

s'been a rough week, so I can't guarantee polished techno. then again, I heard some folks like their techno rough...