Interviewer: Thomas Mortigan

 

What follows is an interview with Mikko Aspa of GRUNT. Mr. Aspa is a long running veteran of the Finnish Noise/Power Electronics scene as well as the Finnish Black Metal scene and is involved with countless bands and projects such as Nicole 12, Clinic of Torture, Deathspell Omega, Alchemy of the 20th Century, Clandestine Blaze, Creamface, and Stbat Mater. He also owns/operates the record labels Freak Animal Recs, Northern Heritage, and Kullt of Nihilow. The main focus though, in this interview, is GRUNT.

 

Power Electronics has a very detailed history and evolution. Acts such as Whitehouse, Emil Beaulieu, Incapacitants, etc., have paved the way for many to follow. Grunt is no exception. You have an outstanding discography. Tell me, how does one find the time to devote such effort into this endeavor?

 

I don’t think time is any key factor for almost anyone. It’s always about setting priorities and getting things done.  I know only handful of people who are truly too busy in just merely surviving – having long work hours just to pay rent and food for family or whatever. Everybody else has possibilities to spend hours and hours each month, if not week or even daily, to something additional they want. Many people choose to watch TV, go to bar to have drinks, or something else. They will tell you they don’t have time, but it’s merely because they spend it in other ways. I have devoted plenty of my time for activities within noise/pe underground. It is not some passing phase or side “hobby,” but been way of life since teenager boy and I can’t see it changing drastically in upcoming years. Grunt’s part in the history and evolution of the scene is not in same level as the high profile names and pioneers who you mentioned; nevertheless you can see it has driven some section of the scene forward.

 

In all your years of doing Grunt, running Freak Animal Records and being involved in COUNTLESS musical projects, do you ever to start to feel stagnated, or burnt out at the amount of things you participate in? Do you have a most "personal" project that means the most to you?

 

Grunt has been always my most personal project. It has dealt with every type of content and interest during the years as well as very open for various types of sound exploration. It has been going on almost 15 years now, which means pretty much half of my life. To not become “personal” in such amount of time would be weird. Most of other projects reflect some specific sides of my interest or opinions, in sound and content. But each of them is held in tighter leash how far and in which direction they can be developed. I don’t feel stagnated or burned out. I think that is exactly the reason of multiple things I’m involved in. Many of the projects work only few times a year. Or even just once in couple of years. And every time I have completed something, I’ll be getting “distance” for it while getting involved with something else. To return back to project again is then fresh and interesting. If it wouldn’t, project will be terminated or put on hiatus. Despite I mentioned that most of projects have kind of strict planned sound/content, I believe each of them offers quite good variety what keeps them interesting. It is surprising that some projects which I originally started merely for personal obsession/therapy, became almost the most “popular” things of my creations among the listeners.

 

You must have started Grunt at a young age, I'm assuming? In all your years, what’s your fondest accomplishment with this project? And with your influence on a lot of artists within the Ambient/P.E./Noise scene, do you feel you get the recognition you deserve, or do you ever feel "ripped off" by artists copying your style?

 

I started Grunt when I was 15. I think some of the accomplishment would be the very usual: making the full length album such as Seer Of Decay or ability to tour/do gigs abroad for audience who actually wants to see it. I don’t know how much Grunt has influenced others, and what comes to “ripping off,” one could easily blame me for doing so too. Also domestic “success” is something what seems to be kind of achievement. You know, it’s often very hard to receive any support from to audience of your country, when it’s nothing “exotic.” It took pretty much full decade that I could trust that if I release something, at least handful of copies will sell to Finland and if playing live, there will be handful of fanatics who actually come to see it as gladly as it would be some foreign famous noise artists.

 

One could easily say, after hearing many of your musical projects, that you have an eerily creepy style to your work. Overall presentation, lyrics, vocals, etc. Your compositions feel honest and from the soul. Nicole 12 is very disturbing, for instance. Do you have children? Have you received much backlash for your lyrics and imagery that you use/support? Is there ever a point of "I've gone too far?"

 

It’s quite rare to receive any negative feedback because editions are small and the crowd who buys them through mail-order usually knows what they are getting. So the praise or at least acceptance is far greater than negative criticism.

Once in a while I get attacked on internet messageboards, mailinglists, or such forums or through e-mail due to various reasons, most often “unaccepted perversions” or “right wing politics.” And even more often it is by anonymous people who don’t have courtesy of talking with their own name. Pretty much nobody has approached me in person to oppose what I do. Some people have told about their dislike for something like Nicole 12, but that is easy to understand. Negative criticism and someone disliking my material is none of my concerns. It’s different from mere shit-talk and some people’s intent to trash your reputation (whatever that means – often just promotion!) for their own personal agendas. Most often the backlash is ridiculous or funny and blown over proportions.

 

There are not many things I’d say I’ve gone “too far.” It’s not that I’d feel I did something wrong or wouldn’t be wanting to go further, but the results of it can be damaging for everything else. I mean in legal sense. I have no interest for other consequences.

 

Most of the time I feel like said in lyrics of “confession of the degeneration fetishist” (written back in ’99, to be found from Grunt/Cloama Nausea Of Humanity CD). Just like moment where I have not gone far enough and am ready to take the next step. Which certainly was done during times of those lyrics was written.  And, I don’t have children.

 

Explain, if you will, your recording setup for Grunt.

 

I have never been an equipment junkie. For the early years, I didn’t have anything beyond a 4-track and microphone (literally one! Level of $10 plastic toy) and 12W Marshall amp. All “electronics” was feedback or internal feedback. All distortion was achieved by gain of amp or recorder device. In ‘95 I started to borrow a multieffect box from the guitar player of Unholy (which then was forming Tiermes/Temple Of Tiermes and I became a member of the latter one for the first existing recordings). In ‘96 I bought the Digitech rp-5. I was fine with that until updated gear again in ‘98 with minidisk deck, which allowed me to do very crude “loops.” When you used function to split the track, the machine played like a 2 second loop for you to search the ideal place to split the track. So I used that function to make loops for a long time. I think it was in 2001-2003 when I bought my first analogue synths and after that updated the gear (with intent to play live shows) to small multieffects as Korg’s Pandora px-4 and microcon synth and later small boss sampler.  Is it sp303? In later years I also increased my use of the computer in terms of digital multitracking, but often it is merely a case of having analogue songs where what is needed are a few more sounds or loops added and not enough tracks to do it analogue.

 

So literally I have very little stuff and even less that I actually use. Especially in the past, I bought them very rarely. Usually a few years apart. I think most people end up buying too much crap and never use the full potential of even one device. Too much nice computer programs without getting good sound even once.  I trust more on actual concrete sounds you make and capture with a microphone than some piece of equipment.

 

About recording is often different and depends on what I’m going to do. The dominating key element is the 4-track analogue tape recorder, which is pretty much essential. There are releases where I don’t use almost anything besides that and couple microphones. But often I use some multi-effect box. Pandora px-4, Line-6 pod, Digitech rp-5. I have only 1 distortion pedal and 1 delay pedal.

 

There are so many ways, and they keep changing. Usually I just grab something which is around the reach. If I don’t find right kind of cords, some effect or battery has run out, I just discard that piece and do it with something else. I can do either recording straight live to the 4-track. Or do overdubs on the 4-track. Or I may just record source sounds, which I cut/loop/edit and assemble on digital multitrack (on computer). I might have field recordings done with minidisk or some source tapes to manipulate mechanically. I may do recordings straight line-in, or arrange a few amplifiers or PA system and record sound out of them with microphones. I may also use broken electronics or household electronics (turntables, etc). Like said, I trust more on actual concrete sounds, spontaneous ideas, random incidents, and physical involvement, than anything else. I think that also sets Grunt apart from many of the p.e. bands who rely merely on the synth and drum machine type of set up, and are pretty much limited on the sounds what instrument factory has given them.

 

You stay quite active with your music. How do you balance which project is more important than the next, and where does Grunt fit in with all of it? Is it the project you spend the most, or least time with? What did you think of America when you've played the No Fun Festival in New York? How does the US Noise scene compared to the one in Finland?

 

Grunt is top priority. Of all. But at the same time, I don’t consider most other projects in any way “inferior.” When I do something, I do it 100%. Even if many are referred as “side projects,” they are not something that exists without reason or passion and efforts.

 

I have been in the USA 3 times, and will be playing again in Boston this year. This means I will have 4 visits in USA and all of them directed to the east coast. I have yet to see more than NYC, Boston, and Providence. Each visit there gets more and more satisfactory in terms of finding places, getting to know people better, etc.

USA noise scene is bigger and has more “fans” and more active audience reactions for the shows. No Fun Fest doesn’t probably give an accurate view of how the “scene is” since it is so special of an event. Gathers many styles of noise, power electronics, free improv, ambient, drone, etc. It includes many types of people in the audience and on stage, from violent thugs to happy hipsters to sexual deviants to artschool kids to drug addicts. I see more girls in this fest than regular shows over here, and even “noise groupies,” which is surprising. Over here, especially within power electronics and harsh noise, many people tend to be black clothed white males in early 20’s to mid 30’s, which is not the stereotypical view you see in No Fun or any other US noise shows I’ve seen. If the show you enter is something which consists of free folk, improv, noise or something, the crowd is of course different.

 

Grunt seems to have an array of lyrical topics (i.e. war, famine, politics, degeneration, perversion, violence, etc.). Is there a set lyrical prowess you try to keep streamlined for Grunt, or do you just, so to speak, go with the flow?

 

I go with the flow. There have been moments when I have questioned should I do something different to “keep it interesting” (for others). And I ask myself, would I need the challenge to do something that really requires big efforts and imagination? But I have always ended up with the conclusion that the only honest way is to do what comes out naturally and exclusively about your own interest with as little as possible consideration for the potential listener. If the listener/reader is not interested anymore, it is barely my problem. Material is not created in purpose of entertainment for others, but they deal with the same things I deal with everyday. Just reflecting my interest or lifestyle. Many people can barely say any “professional” opinion of what Grunt deals with, since during nearly 15 years, there has been done probably around 70 . . . 80 . . . (?!) releases and compilations on top of that. And I don’t think there is anyone who has a complete discography and very few even buy all of the releases that came during the last years. In that way they don’t have an accurate view what all has been done, musically or lyrically.

 

What are the upcoming plans/shows for Grunt? I'd like to take the time to thank you for this interview, Mikko. Last words are yours.

 

Live in Finland in late August 2007, live in Boston in October 2007. Possibly live in UK in November 2007, and Japan could be December 2007 or might be postponed later. I have not done any “major” releases since the Seer of Decay that came out over a year ago. That album is soon to be sold out, and in that way also one of the most “popular” and well-selling Grunt titles. I have done compilation tracks and piles of unreleased recordings. Time will tell when I will feel like putting out the next “major” release. There are labels wanting to do them, but I may do a couple of tapes meanwhile.