Ronnie: Synthesizers Joy Electric

Rob: Writer 1340mag.com

Ronnie: Musicially it is going to be more minimal. That is kind of my word right now. Everything on Vol. 1 was kind of overblown with the textures and everything. And on this one I am going to take the same feel and use about half of the stuff I did on Vol. 1. It is going to be a lot like some of the songs I have done in the past like "Synthesized, I Want You Synthesized" and "I Sing Electric" as opposed to some of the songs on the newer record where there is just so much going on. I want to kind of get away from that sound.

Ronnie: Yeah, we did record a live set for it; but we ended up scrapping it for now. So we put on some remix tracks as long with 12 new tracks. We added a couple more new tracks because there were only going to be 10. Im sure somewhere down the road we will do something with the live tracks though.

Ronnie: Yeah, well BEC originally had better distribution than Tooth & Nail, because it was through EMI. But now Tooth & Nail is EMI too, so BEC has turned into more of a CCMish pop kind of thing. So they thought it was kind of ridiculous for Joy Electric to be on BEC. So I think that the only stuff on BEC will be really adult contemporary and praise kind of stuff.

Ronnie: Sales were kind of low. And I dont know if they really understood what we were trying to do with the label sound wise. I think it was probably just kind of a sales thing. Also I dont think there were really many people at the label who were getting into it musically either. But we are still doing some stuff, like we put out that New Music Vol. 2 compilation with them. So there might be an occasional thing like that, but for the most part we are not going to be doing things like that.

Ronnie: Absolutely. Now I can do things however I want and it has made things easier. We are starting to get better distribution on our own. I think it is going to be better all around. I had a vision and I think it kind of clashed with whatever their vision was at the time, so I feel more in control now.

Ronnie: Yeah, they did that and we actually remix one of their songs off of "Danse Macabre" as well. It just came about because we were going to be doing a 12" and the label started making the rounds seeing who would be interested, and so I said, "Hey why dont you email The Faint, because I really like them a lot;" so they did and it turns out half of them were real big Joy Electric fans and they had our stuff, and so I ended up getting to meet those guys and it turned out really cool.

Ronnie: It makes it more fun. It makes it more energetic rather than using just tracks. It brings an energy that I like, and I may have to go back to not having a drummer some day, but for now Todd is really cool.

Ronnie: I dont know. People listen to the first record and hear how synth heavy that it is, so they say that it is obvious I produced. And then they listen to the new one and how it is mostly stripped down guitars and they say that it is obvious Jason did it. Rob (the singer/songwriter) knows what he did. The first record he came in with a stack of New Order records and with this record he was just way more into guitar pop so thats what he did. I dont know what he is going to do next, maybe a combination of the two. I just think it comes down to the fact that Rob writes cool songs.

Ronnie: It really just depends. Im about three songs into Vol. 2 and Im not really sure how many it will go. I mean they are all open ended. Its not like everything will continue from "The White Songbook" to the next one, it will be a whole new concept. They will all connect in that they will have the same spirit, but they all wont be the same concept. I see it going 3 for sure. Maybe every record from here on in, who knows.

Ronnie: We got lucky on this. It came out on Plastiq. Because…

Ronnie: They have, and I said, "Look, we just want to make a quick EP and make it available through Plastiq; I dont think you will be interested in it, so can I do it?" And they said yeah, go ahead. So it is just something I like to do. I mean that last record took so long and so we are trying to do a lot this year. This year is more like years before when we have had a lot coming out. The day I walk out of the studio with a finished record, is the day that I start thinking about the next one. So…

Ronnie: Right now I am just using a Roland S100 exclusively. And I am not really using anything else. I have kind of made it a limitation on myself to just use that. I think it is the ultimate analog piece I have and it can do anything I want to do. So I have made this goal to make these next few records on it. So on this new record I have gone back to using just analog synthesizers. So I am limiting myself, but at the same time I think that I am also making it more fun.

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