Here at Yellow Green Red, the policy for interviewing artists is to only interview those I am genuinely curious about. You gotta actually care about their answers if you’re going to interview someone or else why bother, you know? That’s never been an issue here, but every now and then there is an artist that I am just dying to know what makes them tick – even if I didn’t do this website, I still probably would’ve emailed Beau Wanzer for the info that follows in this interview. In a sea of home-recording anti-techno electronic weirdos, Wanzer has a wonderfully distinct sound and vibe – that is, drum machines shocked into consciousness under a blanket of dust, all while a dying Speak & Spell coughs its final words over top. It’s fascinating, ruptured music, and I’m so glad he shed a little light on the mystery for me. Also, side note: I wonder how many people’s lives have been changed by stumbling upon a Sleep Chamber LP in the dollar-bin back when they were a kid? I know of at least four people (myself included) that shared this epiphany. What a great and criminally under-appreciated group.

It’s my understanding you’ve been messing with drum machines and synths since you were a teenager. Was that the first musical instrument you picked up? Why did you gravitate toward that instead of a guitar or something more “traditional”?
My very first instrument was actually a guitar (I was 12 or 13), but eventually I got bored with it and bought a synthesizer from a friend a couple years later. I think the reason I gravitated more towards synths/drum machines was because of their quirks. Back then (and even still now), I’d just hook up something and see what happens. I also think it was what I was listening too at that time… I wanted to make the sounds I was hearing on records like Skinny Puppy’s Bites, Front 242’s Geography, and Sleep Chamber’s Submit To Desire. I didn’t have enough money for a sampler, so I’d just hook up a tape machine/synth/drum machine and try the best I could.

How close did you come to re-creating Skinny Puppy or Sleep Chamber? Also, how was it that you got into Sleep Chamber at an early age? Surely a lot of their concepts went over your head at first, unless I’m just projecting…
I wasn’t trying to re-create the exact music… more so the vibe and feeling of those projects. Honestly, I don’t remember what was going through my head back then. I still have all the tapes. I’ll go back and listen to them. In regards to Sleep Chamber, I remember going to the record store and finding Submit to Desire in the dollar bin. I was attracted to the cover initially, than turning it over and seeing that picture of John Zewizz hanging out in a grave yard looking like a total fucking freak secured the purchase. Yes, their music does rely heavily on sadomasochistic/ritualistic overtones. They weren’t apparent to me at first, but probably leaked into my subconscious, making me the man I am today… haha.

Your recent album features tracks recorded over nearly a decade. So often, the mindset of the electronic artist is to constantly move forward, with the sense that music over a year old is already stale. Why isn’t that the case with you?
I can’t speak for other electronic musicians, so I don’t know what mindset they are in. For me though, I’ve never really moved forward since I first started playing with machines. Maybe technically I’ve learned a thing or two, but in regards to actually making ‘music’ I don’t think about what context it will be listened to, when it will be played, or how it’s perceived. I just do it.

So you’ve essentially hit what you wanted to do early on, and are working within the same general framework? Do you foresee your process changing anytime soon?
Yes and no. I think the framework/work flow should always change, even if you are using the same equipment. It’s important to change the process as much as possible, straying away from your comfort zone. It helps the creative process, more or less. Something as simple as recording in a different room/environment can drastically alter what is created. Occasionally I’ll rent a seedy motel room and bring a couple drum machines/synths/mics and record all night, just to feel a different vibe.

Many of your tracks are incredibly minimal, nothing more than a drum machine and vocals… how did you determine that other people would want to hear and enjoy your music? At what point did you decide that releasing vinyl and performing live would be something other people would enjoy?
Again, I don’t consider other people when I make music. I’m very grateful to the people who enjoy it and buy it, but that has nothing to do with the creative process. I think the most important thing with any form of art/creative outlet/whatever is to do what moves you; sounds cliché, but it’s true. I’d much rather put out a record I love that nobody hears than a record catering to a specific sound/trend/etc. The amount of music coming out, both old and new, is never-ending. I’m just a drop in a bucket.

Where did “putting out records” come about, then? Was it a friend who heard your material and pushed you to make it available, or offered to release it?
I’ve never recorded music with the intention of ‘putting it out’, it’s always been more of a hobby for me. Over the past 13 years or so I’d just make CD-rs and give them to my friends in Chicago. Some of the tracks on the recent LP my friends have had since 2002. My first “official” track released was on a compilation 12″ via Traxx’s Nation Records in 2008 with D’marc Cantu and Saturn V. After that I mostly just kept to myself and continued to record. I did release a couple solo tracks on a few more compilations over the years and released various collaborations. Eventually I was talking to Ron Morelli and he asked me to send him some stuff. I sent him 30-40 tracks and he picked a couple for my first solo 12″ on L.I.E.S. I’ve known Ron since about 2006, way before he was doing his label, so it felt good to let a friend do it rather than some random outlet.

How did you meet Ron? Do you go to a lot of DJ events and shows? Your music seems to come from a place of isolation, but I understand that how it sounds might be different from your reality.
I met Ron when he was touring with DJ Overdose, Novamen, and Manhunter around 2006. I set up a Halloween show for them with my friend Jim Magas at this weird place in Chinatown. Yes I do DJ, but it’s not something I’m interested in pursuing… I’m more of a record collector than anything. I’ve been doing a monthly here in Chicago for about eight years now, so that gets it out of my system.

Your music seems to be aware of your “drop in the bucket” status, and that’s one thing I find so appealing. The fact that you aren’t catering to any audience, or trying to draw attention to yourself is clear and sincere. Do you ever feel lost being a part of the rapidly changing electronic music underground, where it’s a constant barrage of Soundcloud links and remixes of mixtapes of edits?
I don’t really think about it to be honest. I just do my own thing, whether people are or aren’t paying attention. It doesn’t matter. I’ve been doing it for a long time and not much has changed, except there is a little more interest lately. Basically, as long as I’m able to put out physical pieces of music, travel, and grow creatively, then I’m completely content. I’m still relatively unknown in the grand scheme of “electronic music” and I’ll never make a living from my music, and I’m ok with that.

I guess I also meant, not so much for your own music, but for when you are checking out other artists or producers. How do you go about finding new music? What are you into these days?
I just go to record stores and dig. I rarely download music because I never end up listening to it. It usually just sits in a folder and eventually gets deleted. I often listen to the same records I’ve been listening to for years… I’m trying to break that habit though. Over the past couple of years I’ve been listening to a lot of early Blackhouse, Bruce Gilbert (specifically Dome/A.C Marias), Die Tödliche Doris, Marko Laine, The Residents, Pyrolator, Nurse With Wound, Frak, Die Egozentrichen 2, Akliah Bryant’s Arachnophobia, and stuff on Sterile Records/Earthy Delights, Inner-X-Musick, Vinyl on Demand, Walhalla Records.

What’s high on your want list right now, record-wise?
Everything, ahaha. Hmm. Off the top of my head: Caroline K’s Now Wait for Last Year LP, Eurythmics’ The Walk 12″, Ti-Tho’s Traumtänzer 7″, Andy Giorbino’s Frechheit Siegt cassette, and Mania D’s Track 4 7″.

Do you think some of that stranger, art-minded NDW stuff filters into your music at all? Or are you coming from a different place entirely?
Definitely. I’ve always thought the NDW era was a bit magical in terms of creativity. There was such an amazing amount of variety and experimentation, it’s really inspiring. I was already a huge Residents fan, but the first time I heard Der Plan’s Geri Reig it blew my mind. I’ve always enjoyed music that gives off a sense of queasiness, or just the feeling that “something isn’t right” and a lot of the NDW era bands have that. As far as where I’m coming from, I don’t know? I’m inspired by everything from Beat Happening to Diamanda Galas to Polygon Window. I just love music.

Many of your songs are kinda short, at least by dance music standards – there are a bunch of tracks around three minutes long on your recent album. Is that intentional, or just how things ended up? Could there ever be a 12+ minute Beau Wanzer track?
They just ended up that way. I don’t know… haven’t really thought about it. I guess the album isn’t catered towards DJs (i.e. long mixable tracks). Not saying that DJs can’t play it, but it’s more of a song-based record than a track-based record, if that makes sense? There are 12+ minute tracks and eventually they will get released, but I’m taking my time. I’m not in a rush.

Your track titles often conjure a sort of real-life doldrums, like “Shitty Cough 2” for example. Are we supposed to read that into your music, or are they more just random place-markers to designate one track from the next?
Depends on the song. The “Shitty Cough” tracks are only recorded when I have a cold/flu.

Where do your lyrics come from? Does it matter that the majority of them are too distorted to be understood?
I don’t think lyrics are too important, as long as the delivery is right. Personally, I enjoy not knowing what people are saying, but I guess it depends on the type of music/mood.

What was the inspiration behind “Lotraf” and its video? Is that you as a child? I can’t help but view it as kind of creepy, even if there’s nothing inherently dark about it…
Yes that is me (my sister is the one filming). We used to film everything when we were younger. I wanted to do something with it; it’s a bit intrusive, but that’s why I like it. I don’t find it creepy at all, but I like that you do.

Don’t you think your nasty drum machines would make any innocuous sample kind of creepy? How does your music sound to you?
Ahaha. I don’t know? Maybe? To me, my music sounds pretty straight-forward I guess? There is a lot more creepy/fucked up music out there than mine.

Do you have any personal goals for your own music, besides just continuing to make tracks at your leisure? Would you ever want to perform live?
No personal goals really, other than having more opportunities to travel and collaborate with people. I’ve been performing live for a very long time, since 2003.

I had no idea you’ve been playing out, my bad! You said you weren’t keen on DJing, but do you enjoy playing your own music live?
I actually love both DJing and playing live, but I get more pleasure/fulfillment from playing a live set. I always write a new batch of songs for the my live sets and switch out machines. It’s fun to start from scratch with different setups and see what comes out of it.

It’s interesting that I think many people who only know your records might associate you with the modern underground techno scene, L.I.E.S. and all that, but it sounds like you are coming from a pretty different place than the majority of your labelmates. Does it feel weird if someone lists your name as a techno producer next to Vereker and Jahiliyya Fields?
I think it’s a bit of a misconception that L.I.E.S is a “techno” label. The first Jahiliyya Fields record (and one of my favorite L.I.E.S releases) is pretty much a beatless affair. As far as being classified into a certain genre or whatever… I really have no control over that and don’t really think about it. It’s easy for writers/etc to just lump something into an association based on one common factor (i.e. labels, etc). Overall, it doesn’t matter. It’s all subjective to the individual listener anyway.

Did you release your LP yourself? What’s next, record-wise?
I had a little help, but yes, it’s self-released. Next year should be a busy year. A couple more solo records, new JUZER 12″, Mutant Beat Dance 12″/LP, Civil Duty 12″, Streetwalker EP, and a couple new collaborations (one with Corporate Park from Denton, TX, which I’m very excited about!).

Yellow Green Red is not usually a hub for promotional synergy, but every now and then things line up perfectly – like this interview with Nots and the release of their debut LP, which took place a couple days ago! For those uninitiated, Nots are a scorchingly primitive art-punk band, and they take cues from Urinals, Screamers and Teddy & The Frat Girls (to name but a few greats), which they channel through modern-day Memphis, a hotbed of garage-rock action. That is, at least until they released this LP, which adds in a pretty distinctive synth-wave undercurrent and all sorts of intriguing nuances amongst the bash n’ crash. I spoke with guitarist/vocalist Natalie Hoffmann over the past couple weeks (we were equally tardy in our correspondence) and I’m psyched not only to jam their new album but to see them live on the US tour they have already embarked on. You should too!

How did you all get together? I know at least a few of you were or currently are in other “established” bands too.
Charlotte the drummer and I have been playing music together for years, and we both joined other bands along with Nots. Charlotte joined Manateees a few years ago and still plays drums for them, and I used to play bass in Ex Cult. Madison (bassist) moved to Memphis in 2010 and before had been in a few bands in New York. Alexandra recently joined us on synth and she had played drums for a summer with The Barbaras.

Is Nots a side project? I feel like there’s usually a negative connotation with that term, but I don’t think that’s necessarily fair.
I don’t consider Nots a side project at all, Nots is my main jam. But that isn’t to say I’m not open to experimenting and playing with other people; I think some really great stuff comes out of that. I don’t have any negative feelings toward side projects. Everyone in Nots is really dedicated and feels strongly about playing music together. Living in Memphis means no band has to be a side project since it’s such a small music scene, and everyone in Nots is really supportive of each other.

Are there a ton of punk bands in Memphis? Does it feel like most people that go to shows there are also in bands?
Yep, there are quite a few punk bands in Memphis, some more active than others. I’d say about half of the people who come to shows are in bands, and the other half are live music lovers or regulars at the bars!

Was there any specific ideology behind forming the band, or was it just some friends jamming? Like, was there ever any specific “let’s start a band heavily influenced by X, Y and Z” sort of discussion?
There really wasn’t an ideology behind it in the beginning, and honestly Nots has changed so much since our first lineup that even if there were, it’s mutated into a totally different thing that none of us really expected.

How has Nots changed since your first lineup, both musically and personnel-wise? What’s the current mutation?
Nots has had several incarnations, and our sound has changed with each of them. Charlotte and I are the only consistent members in all of the different mutations. The first lineup of Nots was a
three piece: Charlotte played drums and our friend Carly played bass. Carly wrote these incredible melodic bass-lines and she was really good at harmonizing vocals, so maybe you could say that we used to have a
more refined approach to vocals and melodies when she was in the band. She ended up moving to Austin, so we switched things up and Charlotte moved to bass and we got our friend Laurel to play drums. We ended up
giving up on harmonies in favor of shouted gang vocals because we thought it sounded better and it was fun. This is the lineup on both of our singles. Laurel ended up quitting the band before we recorded the album, so Charlotte moved back to drums, we got another one of our friends, Madison, to play bass, and we added Alexandra Eastburn on
synth just to see what happened. So the album is a reflection of these changes. And a reflection of the chaos of these changes.

What would you say “happened” with the addition of Alexandra on synth? There are so many sonic possibilities with a synth, how did you narrow them down, or did you?
Honestly, we thought it would be really fun to have Allie in our band and we thought it would expand our sound and make writing and jamming more involved. Allie and I had been friends for a while and we both went to art school together, so we knew it’d be fun to hang out all the time working on music. We also knew she listened to tons of great synth-driven music, so we figured she’d be a perfect fit. And we were right! As far as writing goes, we’ll say something vague, and she’ll interpret it and usually something totally unexpected happens that we are all really stoked about.

Lyrically, are there any general themes that keep popping up? If you are all singing the same words, are lyrics written collectively, or does one person take care of it?
I write the lyrics, and then we decide during practice which parts are going to be sung as a group. I’d say the most general themes on the album are the ideas of multiplicity and a sort of internal struggle and how these affect both peoples’ personal lives and a society as a whole. I want to explore this gray space, almost everything: people, problems, relationships, and conflicts are way more complicated than we like to imagine. It’s easy to want things to be very black and white, this or that, but I just don’t find that to be the case most of time. And most of the songs on the album address this in a less direct and more metaphorical way through a bunch of different scenarios.

How was Gonerfest? Is it truly as friendly and welcoming a punk fest as it seems to be?
Gonerfest rules. It’s great to see friends from all over the country (and out of the country too) hanging out and listening to killer music. I also love hearing about how much everyone looks forward to the food in Memphis. I think the experience of the fest is what you make of it. People come here looking forward to getting outta town (or off of work if you’re in town) and having a good time, and I think with that kind of attitude and with a fest as lined with debauchery and fun as Gonerfest, it’s pretty hard to go wrong.

Have you had any particular moments since Nots began where you felt like you were truly a part of something special, and more than just being in a band with friends?
It may sound cheesy or something, but playing music in general is always really special to me, being able to enter that totally different headspace that playing music creates is what keeps me sane. I’m lucky to be surrounded by people who want to jam and be generally creative all the time even though it isn’t always easy. It’s hard to work a ton, balance some resemblance of a personal life and play in a band, but we have a great time together. And this most recent combination of Nots feels pretty fearless; we aren’t afraid to experiment with what kind of music we’re making, and we’re all stoked to take it to the streets.

Punk music often succeeds on its amateurism, but you’ve been a band for a little bit now… how do you balance getting technically better and more confident as a band without losing that initial spark or thrill?
We don’t worry much about keeping an “amateur” sound. We’re actually always trying to get better at jamming with each other and figuring out how our different sounds can fit together. As far as keeping the spark goes, it’s hard not to have some electricity when nobody has any expectations for what a song “should” sound like. We’re really open to experimenting with everything we work on.

What can we expect from the new album? Is it going to be the Nots we know and love from the 7″s, or are there any new developments, musically or vocally or otherwise?
It’s a mutant version of the 7″ Nots. The addition of the synth brings a whole new world of freaky sounds and the lineup changes added a good dose of intensity to the mix. We were under a pretty big amount of pressure writing and recording, but we were also having a ton of fun doing it. The LP is alive and wild. Watch out.

Which is the better ambassador of the word “not” – the Wayne’s World franchise or Anthrax’s Not Man? Feel free to think long and hard about this.
Gotta say Wayne’s World, of course. But it’s not the sarcastic fart kind of “noooooot.” It’s a more straightforward “not,” much more related to Garth’s “Foxy Lady” jukebox dance. Get the ears right.