Any Questions? - Smashing Babies (Remix)

In preparation for our Any Questions? - Don't Ask Tour in 1992, we reprogrammed and resequenced all of the songs from our Ensoniq ESQ-1 hardware based sequencing system to our new Atari 1040STe and Steinberg/Jones Cubase computer based sequencing system.

This process took a lot of time but it had some advantages.  We took the opportunity while revisiting these older songs to replace some of the sounds and samples from our older equipment with some of the newer gear (E-MU Pro/Cussion, Yamaha TG33, and Ensoniq EPS) we had acquired.  It also provided us the flexibility to more easily sync our accompanying multimedia horror show videos to the computer based sequencing system using SMPTE timecode for use in our live performances.

One of the songs that was reprogrammed and resequenced was a track titled Smashing Babies from our Illegitimate Release 1990 release.  This ended up being more of a remix of the original song rather than a straight forward conversion and we decided to record it on our Tascam 308/38 8-Track 1/2" Analog Tape Recording System.  For this remix, we added an extended intro to the song and replaced the Korg DDD-5 drum machine parts with E-MU Pro/Cussion sounds.  We also chose to replace mC2p4's backing vocal "baby screams" from the original 1990 recording with a Baby Herman (Who Framed Roger Rabbit) sample on our Ensoniq EPS sampler.

This remix remained unreleased until now.  I hope you enjoy it!

Ttam Troll · Any Questions? - Smashing Babies (Remix)

Ice Rift

Ice Rift is an audio sculpture culled from Any Questions? - Darkness. This rare 1992 release offered an early glimpse into our Imbued Vagary project and an example of the synthetic tapestries that we would weave into our future film work.

The longest of all of the songs from Darkness. Ice Rift is probably the bleakest. It's another song which I composed well past midnight and before the first rays of dawn. These hours proved to be quite fertile creatively for me while I explored some very dark corners.

P.S. This photo of Ttam Troll was taken at FFS II Synth Jam 2010 - Punish Your Machine on 06/05/10.

Terminal

The sessions for our 1992 release, Any Questions? - Prey For Death, produced many song ideas which were never fully developed. Terminal was one such idea. With it's up tempo, driving beat, it was quite different than the other tracks which ended up on the original, official product. It's sound is really more reminiscent of the style we'd explore on our follow up effort, Any Questions? - Death.

When I was compiling tracks in the Fall of 2001 for the 10th Anniversary Special Edition CD release of Any Questions? - Prey For Death, it seemed like the perfect time to revisit this once cast aside song idea and include it as a bonus track.

There wasn't much to do to bring this song to life and complete it. All of the musical elements are exactly as they were back in '92. I had the MIDI data and all of the original sounds sources so I loaded up the song and recorded it onto our 24-track ADAT system. From there, we did have to come up with lyrics for it. The original song idea had never evolved to that point so MC2P4 penned a rough draft of the lyrics from which I then added to and refined to fit my vocal style. The result is what I share with you now. Enjoy!

P.S. The photo was shot in March, 1992 at Floating Fish Studios during an Any Questions? - Prey For Death recording session. MC2P4 (left) is looking for samples to load while Ttam Troll (right) triggers a sample on an Ensoniq EPS as he controls the Atari 1040STe/Cubase system. It must also be noted that Ttam Troll is sporting some very nifty '80s glasses!

Procession

Procession is an audio sculpture culled from Any Questions? - Darkness. This rare 1992 release offered an early glimpse into our Imbued Vagary project and an example of the synthetic tapestries that we would weave into our future film work.

Like the other songs from Darkness, this electronic soundscape invites the listener to follow me as I delve into my own dark psyche. Created during solitary late night recording sessions at FFS II, I would work through the night until the first rays of the dawn burned my skin. At that time, I would retreat until Darkness, once again, ruled the night.

FFS in Early 1992

This photo was one of several unearthed recently in the FFS Vaults. It depicts Ttam Troll working on his trusty Atari 1040STe at Floating Fish Studios. This was shot in March, 1992 during sessions for Any Questions? - Prey For Death release.

P.S. Notice the lovely wood paneling and flowery curtains. A nice touch for any professional studio.

Any Questions? - Strafing Children

Strafing Children was originally recorded for Any Questions? 1992 Prey For Death release but it wasn't until we were preparing for our live tour with Punch Drunk in Summer 1993 that we finally made the video for it.

We had about a month to shoot and edit 12 of 13 videos for our hour long set list. Sharing The Plasma Pool had already been completed the previous year. The final videos were then projected onto a 9' x 12' video screen and used as a backdrop of visual hallucinations for our Hypermedia Industrial Death Horror Show.

The video for Strafing Children was quickly assembled from three sources. We used aerial video footage from the first Gulf War, dive bombing and strafing scenes from an old war movie, and some classic footage that we shot at the Griffiths Compound. This final source of video was created by duct taping our camcorder onto a lazy susan and manually spinning it to capture the 360 degree dizzyingly eerie and colorful smoke filled footage of MC2P4 as he feasts upon bloodied remains.

Though we had limited time to work on this video, it turned out to be quite an effective and literal translation of the song. One of which we are still proud of today.

Any Questions? - The Face

Fueled by Ferrara Pan Atomic Fireballs and Lipton Iced Tea Mix, I churned out this song and video animation for The Face music video from Any Questions? 1992 release, Prey For Death.

This song happens to be 1 of only 2 songs (Carousel being the other) that had all its drum parts created entirely by using the Drum Editor within Cubase. Using the Drum Editor, I manually placed individual drum hits on a grid within the program and then manipulated the velocity and volume parameters. The benefit of this is that I could quickly create dynamic rhythms patterns that I could have never played behind a drum kit.

Once the rhythm track was created, I began to compose the rest of the song. For inspiration, I stared out my back window and watched the steam from the cooling towers of the Limerick Nuclear Power Plant seed the clouds. That visual backdrop was (and still is) the stimulus for many Any Questions? songs. This song is a perfect example of the dichotomy those images represent. On one hand, you have the soft and almost hopeful sounding synth string sounds which carry the song higher and higher just like the steam that rises from the cooling towers. In contrast, the song is violently interrupted by a stark, pulsing beat and a repetitious droning sample which exclaims "Pray for Death!". A reminder that the end is always near just as the Chernobyl nuclear reactor accident reminded us in 1986.

Work on the video animation for this song wasn't so dichotomous. Affordable video animation that could be done at this time with home computers was very time consuming and crude by today's standards. However, this didn't deter me from spending several days of my life hammering away at my trusty Atari 1040STe to produce the animation. To this day, I'm still not quite sure how I pulled it off though I do remember the pillow of Fireball wrappers that I would lay my head down on to rest when I could no longer see clearly.