Digital Artifact Interview 2002

Roughly six years has past since the world last heard and experienced the true might and genius of The Future Sound of London with their technological masterpiece Dead Cities. Co-production team Garry Cobain and Brian Dougans finally created a level of communication through their music that enabled them to transcend boundaries and genres from the ease of their Earthbeat Studios. Dead Cities was an intriguing new direction for FSOL, creating a dark and artistically conceptual tale constructed through a meandering maze of organic-industrial rhythms. But as fast as critical acclaim began surrounded FSOL’s largely misunderstood and misinterpreted sound and vision on Dead Cities, Cobain and Dougans quietly and without warning drifted into deep anonymity, completely out of the public’s eye. But unlike Leftfield’s Neil Barnes and Paul Daley who called it a day earlier this year after many successful years in the studio together, FSOL are rising once again and on the move in 2002, embracing vivid musical and spiritual transformations that will guide them for many years to come. With a select few DJ dates, their Papua New Guinea Translations LP, the recent Amorphous Androgynous presents The Isness LP, the re-release of Accelerator with a bonus companion CD remix cache of “Papua New Guinea,” and a myriad of FSOL-related endeavors yet to be fully disclosed, Garry Cobain and Brian Dougans are strategically undertaking their most important musical campaign to date.

“The last six or so years has been a sort of personal metamorphosis for me,” reflected Garry Cobain from the heart of their new and improved Galaxial Pharmaceutical Studios. “It was somewhat a dark period for us after the release of Dead Cities in part because of the press and public’s overall misconception of the music. After Dead Cities I became very physically ill and to a degree a breakdown in the FSOL structure was on the horizon and virtually unavoidable. I realized that my own personal mission going into my dark conditioned side was actually a microcosm of what was really occurring in the outside world around me. For FSOL, the “future” to me had suddenly lost its appeal, because I was not sure if I was going to live much longer because of my affliction. I eventually came to the realization that society itself was rather ‘future-obsessed,” a similar acknowledgment made many thousands of years prior by Yogis and spiritual masters who themselves sought answers and well being through enlightenment. A few good things did come about after Dead Cities, especially when I talked about the actual structure and concept behind the album to friends and journalists, who recommended a variety of books about spiritual growth, enlightenment and zeitgeist stuff like The Road Less Traveled which steered me into new directions of thought. I began to hook into these perspectives and new idea formations and realized that I was myself a microcosmic element in the grand scheme of what is going on around me. I was in dire need of personal reestablishment of how I was physically and where I was spiritually. I began looking into self-healing techniques like Ayurvedic Medicine as a means to bring about change in my life. One can easily attain placebo ‘bullet’ to achieve a short-term chemical cure, but that still circumvents the process of true healing. If you are looking to truly conquer the illness and be cured, you need to look deeper into personal recalibration by treating the ‘sick’ not the ‘sickness.’

“For me to regain balance in my life internally and externally, my transformation required that I set off on a personal odyssey to heal and cleanse myself by traveling around India, learning about holistic, Ayurvedic and homeopathic medicines, practicing Yoga, meditation and a maintaining a strict diet of organic foods, leaving Brian to keep the fort together in my absence. When I finally started to look into who I was necessary for personal healing, it soon became apparent to me that some of the systematic behavior of FSOL and some of the ways we were hiding behind our masculine energy needed to be reappraised to reflect a more balanced masculine/feminine energy. The masculine energy has always been the dominant force in all levels of society, most notably in the last hundred years, and the schematic demographic pie chart analytical brain-oriented was dulling quite a bit. I think many people are beginning to realize that the female intuitive energy is the way to come forward. I developed my own alkaline-balancing vegan eating system based on three doshas of Ayurvedeic Medicine: vata prakriti, pitta prakrit, and kapha prakriti. The basic concept of Ayruvedic Medicine has existed for thousands of years in India and states that the universe consists of different balances that must maintain equilibrium between elements fire, ether, gas, earth and water. Every living being including plants and foods are composed of different combinations of those elements, and humans fall into three dispositions. My dosha is called vatta pitta: a good communicator, in touch with the ether and with the way things float around in the nebulous sphere (vatta), and fire (pitta,) because I have a lot of burning and angry energy inside me. In order to balance those energies and attain wellness equilibrium, I had to be more water and earth, which ultimately meant the people I was supposed to hang around with needed to be more water and earth-based, less air and fire like myself. Typically I would be attracted to people who are just like myself, so it was necessary for me to use relaxation techniques like meditation and Yoga to bring my fire and air in balance.”

“All foods too have balancing elements as well which can be categorized as acids and alkalines. Alkaline foods are primarily grains and whole natural organic fruits and vegetables, while acids are typically meats, fish, eggs, and cheese. All disease, like cancer for example, is caused by an acid/alkaline imbalance. London has exploded with organic food shops because people as individuals are becoming more aware and suspicious of the food chain and are questioning just how safe if the food we are consuming. These same people are realizing that people who live in so-called ‘uncivilized’ places don’t have or suffer from any of the so-called ‘civilized’ diseases like heart disease and cancer. We suffer from these diseases because we have toxic food chains, which are a product of toxic water and toxic air that the body just cannot deal with. We walk around at the age of 30 very ill with immune systems and I think most people are getting tired of that way of life and are seeking out other alternatives to live long healthy and happy lives.”

“When you get cleaned up and healed you begin to see that things very differently and sometimes very weirdly. The fear and conditioning impressed upon you by family and society, which helped make you a more impoverished being, goes completely away. I found during my cleansing that I became very sensitive, and in the initial stages had visions of the future that manifested itself in the present, a very cosmic sort of experience to say the least. Most of us unfortunately live our lives in a cloud of intoxication, and that toxicity tends to really mar that visionary perspective which we all have. It’s really odd to have premonitions, seeing things taking shape and manifesting now that I have been foreseeing many years previous. There has been a definitive spiritual awaking going on with me for many years now and that feminine intuitive energy has really come into focus. I think now many in society are finally realizing that we are not as free as we think we are. Situations still exist where for example a guy wearing a sarong or some exotic dress walking down a public street is going to be harassed and called a fucking queer because they are expressing themselves the way they feel. It is pitiful that such human elements like this still exist in a modern, civilized society that is supposedly so “evolved, technological, and open-minded.”

“Being healthy is love, and one cannot experience true love unless they are healthy in mind, body, and spirit. Much of society is ill, and therefore is unable to attain that type of love. Attaining fulfillment and feeling enjoyment comes from living purely in the present. Another example of enlightenment that played into my spiritual transformation was the correct learning and understanding of the tantric tradition, which is the moment of orgasm. The orgasm, which is the whole basis of tantra, has been mal-learned and misunderstood because the religious hierarchy in society have shunned and maligned it as sexual perversion. These prominent religious controllers in today’s society don’t want the individuals to empower themselves though sex that is an incredibly powerful, pleasurable toy. It is a toy for spiritualism, and sex is everything but spiritual in most people’s lives nowadays. Modern sex has to become spiritual again because it is the key element for humans to flower as individuals. Love is an ultimate form of creative expression, and what tantra explores is the moment of orgasm, the moment of living in the present where the real enjoyment lies, when nothing else matters, not the home, the job, the car. I myself can’t claim that I completely live in the present, but I do have glimpses of it and it brings a greater happiness to me than I have ever had in my life. It is amazing when you tap into something new you begin to see it manifesting everywhere. I truly go around seeing nothing but spirituality and cosmic psychedelia even though I myself am still a conditioned, toxic individual.”

“During my healing/cleansing and travel period, I started listening to a variety of Indian ragas and began to identify and realize how similar those rhythms were to the psychedelic flow and structure of music especially the music by The Doors. Sitting on the outskirts of small villages and hearing various types of Indian classical music I related what I was hearing to stuff like The Doors’ “Light My Fire” and I began to connect completely with it all over again. All the reasons why I loved those tracks as a kid came flooding back to me in this incredible synchronicity. Gradually this prog-tronic, ostentatious, cosmic psychedelic new FSOL began to emerge where Brian and myself completely reconnected half a world away from each other. I was writing again and sending recordings to Brian back home to work with. At the beginning it was quite confusing and we didn’t quite know what it all meant, but like all things it sorted itself out into where we were going to be headed with our music. Psychedelica to me means simply color and joy like the vision of a child. I was born in 1967 and I firmly believe that original spirit of the time, which I missed back then, had finally flown into me now.”

“This experience of conceptualization and enlightenment for the first time, forming a kind of childish viewpoint, needed to be completely about fun, love, and color. Brian and I never set out to make faceless instrumental and anatomic music, but if you make anatomic, faceless music it could be that you have a very unique idea in terms of communication, or in contrast, you may be one boring bastard. That type of music was far too commonplace in the mid-90s and that became electronic music’s greatest weakness.”

“Another aspect to my healing process was that I had begun collecting. I’ve got this great saying that if you’re a real artist, “ You walk, shit, fuck, eat, and talk like the artist.” All of life is the creative to you. I started collecting different clothes from India as well as inspirational lyrics that I identified with. I found my own source for lyrics in a biography written by Albert Goldman about John Lennon, and on the track “The Mellow Hippo Disco Show,” I wanted to thank and highlight other true and great visionaries who have inspired me over the years. The track itself is one small element to a larger picture. The integration of communication systems in the past has been an integral segment to FSOL and our music, but now we have designed a new forum which helixes together radio, television, and the Internet into a completely new concept, which has allowed Brian and I to make things a little less about ‘big brother’ and more about cosmic psychedelic weirdness reached through a balanced unity of technology, heart, and mind. Because we have toured and performed around the world via ISDN from the comforts of our own studio, Brian and I wanted to explore other possibilities for exposing our sounds, ideas, and things of interest, resulting in a relevant and evolutionary form of expressive communication. It took some time to develop, but we pitched the idea to the famous production company Wise Buddha, who helped design and back the Mellow Hippo Disco Radio Show. This new multimedia forum has become a way and means for Brian and I to showcase a variety of creative ideas and concepts in a cosmic and psychedelic way. The basis of the show centers itself on this animated character, One Man Band of Cosmos, who alongside his little hippo sidekick, embark together on a journey around the universe, and together they channel the universe and trip upon other way thinkers, performers and great minds of the past and present who have shaped the world in a positive way. It is a means by which we can artistically interview way out musicians/composers like Wilhelm Reich (founder of the organ theory), way out healers like Agwah Baghway Rashneeh, and even people like the late comedian Bill Hicks by using technology exchanges to mix lines of interview questions with pre-existing footage. In addition, Brian and I have started DJing again for the radio which started out too as the Mellow Hippo Disco Radio Show, taking the world of psychedelia and the cosmic and reappraising it for the 21st century.”

“After Dead Cities Brian and I realized that we were being received as musicians who really had nothing to say because we were not being your typical rock & roll band with extroverted attitudes. But we wanted to be seen again, and more importantly heard. There was a definite need to create a more exotic and new form of music working under a different philosophy while using integrated technology as a part of the process. I essentially had to let this rock beast inside me out, picking up a guitar to make songs, and fucking with the process in different ways. In the last 4-5 years we’ve changed the whole studio around, which meant changing the whole dynamic of technology we used to write and record music. Suddenly we were working with brass bands and orchestras, and started hanging out and collaborating with a bunch of musicians including ex-Captain Beefhart member Gary Lucas, Mike Rowe, the touring keyboardist for Oasis, as well as prominent blind classical sitar player Baluji Shrivastav. I look at people like Mercury Rev and Super Furry Animals who are creating music from a total band point of view and realized just how amazing it all is. It is really an intriguing point in my life, leaving the big corporation (Virgin Records) behind and embracing the ‘small is beautiful’ DIY ethic. We have the autonomous philosophy and the brand name and can do it ourselves without big brother.”

“When we wrote “Papua New Guinea” there was never any set form or structure around trying to set a precedent or conform to a dance culture standard of the time. The consciousness that spawned “PNG” was more about creating something that was going to transcend all form and structure that it ultimately did. When we agreed to have the 2001 remixes released, after being prodded by everyone for ages to do so, we wanted to have a diverse collection of artists to rework it. While Hybrid and Satoshi Tomiie aren’t really my cup of tea, we did have Simian contribute a cosmic psychedelic version of the track which is more aligned to where we are now with our musical focus.”

“The Papua New Guinea Translations LP came about through a false perception of people who believe that this track was our favorite piece of music because it was our most successful piece of music. In all honesty, prior to Translations, I felt that “PNG” did not appear in any other form that I was overly proud of, remix or otherwise. The track never really existed alone by itself as my work or my vision because it was always held alongside Andy Weatherall and Graham Massey’s remixes. Our music for Virgin existed in these long-form soundscape singles like Cascade where we’d ricochet sounds around until the right soundscape would eventually emerge. I wanted to create a balance for “PNG” which was not achieved through a newly designed remix by someone else. If the consciousness of the new “PNG” is somewhat reflected by way of these updated remixes, I wanted to show a FSOL consciousness perspective through our own translations working off the original’s ‘standard’ which we (Brian and I) were both responsible and proud to have created. That original consciousness wave became much bigger than the music itself and was certainly not an easy moment for Brian and I to handle. Our new translations for “PNG” are quite far from the ‘dancefloor’ where it has been well received over the years. Our latest productions as Amorphous Androgynous on The Isness mix aspects of psychedelia with the electronic to bring down all the borders. Brian and I have come to terms within our own philosophy and musical statement, and ultimately we’ve realized our music is important and that we needed to keep going forward. FSOL/Amorphous Androgynous is a little musical shock bomb which will hopefully change people and their surroundings in a good and positive way.”

“Translations was the perfect stepping stone into our new material as Amorphous Androgynous and new album The Isness, originally titled Galaxial Pharmaceutical. We know that our new cosmic-psychedelic material probably will miss radio play because our focus is to reappraise the ‘weird’ song. Listening to people like White Noise, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and The Chemical Brothers and connecting to all these bizarre songs like “Sgt. Peppers,” “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds,” “Within you Without You,” “Tomorrow Never Knows,” “2001 Light Years from Home,” and “The Private Psychedelic Reel.” Brian and I realized the value and absolute power of the weird song in relation to its lyrical structure. I hung out with Ian Astbury of The Cult and spent a month in LA working with him on sections of the album. Ian is an absolute genius and total visionary, and he too was going though a self-reappraisal period just like I was. We formed a sort of psychedelic mandate about how some of the songs were going to be structured, and he introduced me to a lot of new ideas and concepts and gave me quite a bit of insight on many things that ultimately added to the creative process behind the new LP.