NEW YORK – IN THE CONTINUUM WITH MARTIN REV

Martin Rev is best known as the instrumental half of New York electronic band Suicide, who were formed in the early 70s and remain active today. Rev came from a musical family, and was influenced by a combination of free jazz, early rock ’n’ roll, doo-wop, R&B, and modern composers. Early Suicide shows saw him providing a soundtrack of organ drones, minimal drum machine beats, and occasional feedback to a frenzied, often violent exchange between the band and audience. By the time any official recordings were done, a unique melodic sensibility had emerged to complement this approach. Since 1980, he has traveled on his own parallel course, releasing seven albums of music all rooted in his minimal keyboard style, yet as varied as they are singular. I talked to him recently about the myriad of feelings that pervade his music and life.

Vice:  Have you ever written your dreams down when you woke up?
Martin Rev: Maybe once. Can’t remember the last time.

Do you think there’s any use in it?
Dreaming, sure. Writing them down? Anything we do can be useful even if we don’t know why we’re doing it or what the use will be.

I’ve always felt that your music has a real free jazz informed feeling about it, both in the outsider social context and in the off-the-cuff execution.  How much of that mentality is still ingrained in you from the days of playing in various jazz projects prior to Suicide?
There’s surely a good dose in those memory cells, but it’s impossible for me to measure. Like all the other strong influences in one’s life, it stays with you.

Sun Ra said “Music is a faster vibration than talking. It moves fast, and it has more power than the voice.”  Do you relate to that idea? Has music always been the most natural form of communication or expression for you?
Sure I can relate to that.  It is a more direct and faster language than talking, or rather a more intimate expression of the deepest emotions of the person communicating. It probably has been the most natural or most enjoyable expression for me—definitely the one I love the most. There are others like movement & gesture and visuals & verbals which are cool too, but music can really take you out there, especially when combined with one or more of the others.

You’ve referred to Suicide’s shows as a “ritual” or “religious experiences.”  Do you think the trance element was the only way to navigate the chaotic baptism of the early shows?
I guess it was one of the ways. There was also the combination of intense emotions and natural theater, the realities of life and desire, urgency and passion being expressed through the performance.

You started out with a cheap keyboard and bass amp and moved on to a Wurlitzer organ and some effects boxes. You still use a pretty minimal live set up. Is there certain equipment that you use to record with that you don’t use live?
Actually, it was a Wurlitzer keyboard which then progressed to an even cheaper one. I didn’t use better ones until I got the Farfisa organ. Generally I record with almost anything that has sounds I like or that surprise me.

I remember reading somewhere that you were never really aware of any of the “German groups” at the time that were using electronics in the 70s.  Have you ever taken an interest in any of that stuff since, or any other people exploring similar terrain?
I always tend to listen to what has come my way, and take notice of where it is coming from, musically and mentally through my own particular make-up and interests. Sometimes the worlds you know best are the least interesting to explore in depth, in terms of other people’s ideas. The challenges for me tend to come more from what I may not be able to totally grasp immediately or what keeps generating inspiration or ideas over time than from what I already know well.

Do you make music in a process oriented way, or is it different every time?
If there is a process, I couldn’t define it.  I just try to turn myself on I  guess. Whatever works for me is an idea.

I’ve read that you were really affected by the bombing of Cambodia in 1970.  Does it feel dangerous to you that we seem involved in similar pursuits now?
No feeling is dangerous. What you decide to do based on those feelings can be, but of course that’s a personal decision that only the individual can make.  And that danger is always there.

Do you think that things are moving along a paranoid trajectory?
For some, but of course it’s not paranoia if it’s real. The worse things get, the less paranoid it gets—because the weirdness is really happening.  But I don’t think there is just one movement or direction.  I think a lot of trajectories are happening at the same time, and I believe Nature always has the last word, which is ultimately positive.

I came across this Gregory Corso book, The Happy Birthday of Death, that had a line that said “spray blood Deathdrench the dash of life.”  It reminded me of Suicide—both because of the art on the first two records, but also the celebration of life, the sort of dark positivity. Is that perspective a way of facing destiny?
I don’t know if there’s really just one way of facing anything, in a rational way at least. Things happen all the time, and they constantly change and hopefully add to your way of understanding of what’s going on and how to go on.

I was never working from a conscious idea of facing destiny.  I think I always felt really positive and turned on, and the sound came out the way it did because of lots of factors. It may have just been perceived as dark when it was actually light, at least to me.

TRES WARREN

Photo by Divine Enfant