Featuring Ben Arp /from C/A/T Interview by Ruud Dreessen aka ebm-industrial.nl Date:19 maart 2009
1. Greetings Ben Arp could you please shortly introduce our readers your music project C/A/T? Please fill also a biographical resume about how, when and where...
C/A/T began in 1998 when I first started recording music in my spare time while attending college. The early recordings were very experimental in nature and nothing like what you hear from the project today. I started out also using entirely hardware based equipment and did not introduce computers into the project at all until 2002.
2. What and who are some of your influences in music?
Musically, I think my core influences would be Daniel Myer and his various projects, Trent Reznor and some underground hip-hop acts like El-P and Aesop Rock.
3. Tell one secret about yourself or the band that you have never told to anyone?
I didn’t figure out what the name “C/A/T” meant until 2008.
4. So tell me a bit more about yourself, such as musical?
Well, I’m completely self-taught. I’ve never taken one music lesson of any sort ever. I began by teaching myself how to sequencer using an old hardware sequencer. I then taught myself how to use programs like Reason and Ableton’s “Live” and then in 2007 I have learned how to use Logic Studio. Beyond some tutorials I’ve watched online for some specific things I’ve wanted to know how to do, I’ve figured everything else by myself.
5. How and why did you come about starting C/A/T? What else inspires you to create? How did you decide to form this project, give us a more background information.
C/A/T began because, at the time, I was a DJ and I liked the idea of making the music I wanted to hear and play as a DJ. I’ve pretty much always been inspired by my own life and events that have happened. I’m also inspired by world events as well. C/A/T began as just myself in the project – and has remained that way as well in the studio – every note of every recorded song has been sequenced and recorded solely by myself.
C/A/T became more of a live act in 2005 when I added a second member to the live band. Since then I’ve constantly updated the live band to include various members of other bands and other more unknown musicians to assist me on tour. Most notably would be Erica Dunham of Unter Null who was in the band for 2008 and now L1f3g1v3r from the band [syndika:zero] who is currently part of my live crew.
6. Let's talk about your Debut album ''Worldwide Totalitarian Control'' EP 2004? Where did the concept come from?
The WTC EP was a direct response to the events that happened in the United States on Sept. 11, 2001. That was a day that still grabs me years later and from 2001 – 2004 I was very interseted in the events that happened and spent many hours researching the background to the causes and possible theories behind the events that occurred. WTC is a musical representation of all of the reading and studying I did during that time period. It may seem a bit dated now in 2009, but it was the first widely available release by C/A/T.
7. Tell me why this title "Chaos And Terror"? Tell us a few words about the concept of this album?
Well, “Chaos And Terror” will be the next album from C/A/T. The concept behind that is quite simple… the past few years of my life have been both very chaotic and very terrifying at times. I’ve always felt it’s best to “write what I know” so it felt natural to put all of the emotions I’ve felt over the past few years into my next album. I expect it to be my most self-referential and personal album so far.
8. How is the current promotional tour going for supporting this album?
The tour for “Chaos And Terror” won’t be happening until Fall of 2009 in the United States. I don’t have the full details just yet as things are still in the planning and booking stages. I am determined to play as many cities and countries as possible to support the album.
9. Tell me about your other project Captive Six?
Captive Six is my new side project. It will be more like how older C/A/T material sounds – instrumental with lots of distorted rhythms. As I’ve been writing for C/A/T in a more standard EBM style, I did not want to completely lose the hard “dance noise” edge. Captive Six was born out of my desire to continue writing distorted instrumental dance music but be able to move forward with a new and updated sound for C/A/T.
10. Ben Arp is the founder of Crunch Pod label tell me more about this?
I started the Crunch Pod label about 6 months before I started writing the first music for C/A/T. The idea for Crunch Pod was to help some friends I had to get their music released for others to hear. In the past 10 years it has grown larger than I ever would have imagined back in 1999 when I started the label.
11. The C/A/T remixers is a list fellow Crunch Pod artists Caustic,Manufactura,Bitch Brigade,Alter Der Ruine,Uberbyte and [syndika:zero].Also included are remixes from SAM,FabrikC,XP8 and Marching Dynamics.tell me more about this?
Ah, you are talking about the remix album “The Second Chance” which I released at the end of 2008. That album was originally going to be bonus disc for a C/A/T album but the album did not get recorded and I had already received many of the remixes. As I liked all of the remixes a great deal, I felt it was best to release them on a limited disc format in late 2008. I got several of the Crunch Pod artists to do remixes for me and then also contacted some other bands I had either done remixes for in trade or were willing to complete a remix for me. I think my favorite remixes on that album came from Marching Dynamics and [syndika:zero] as both took the original tracks into completely different areas than I would have.
12. What are your views on the current state of this electro scene in California. in terms of creativity and audiences? And the scene in other countries?
I am lucky in that California has one very large and active scene in Los Angeles and smaller but equally active scenes in San Francisco and San Diego. I spend most of my time visiting clubs like Das Bunker (Los Angeles) and Death Guild (San Francisco) when I want to spend a night out at club or see a band play. I’ve only yet been to Canada for the COMA 4 festival so I cannot yet comment on how the scene is in other countries.
13. you have very nice album..and many many more tell me about lyrical compositions what you can tell about the done work? How does your music creation process work? How do you create a song?
Thank you! If I had to list a major weakness it would be in writing lyrics and vocal recording – as both are very new to me. All of my lyrics so far have come from a variety of events and emotions I’ve experienced in my life. Music creation tends to just come from hours of sitting in my studio playing around with different sounds and arrangements until I find something that I feel is worth building on. Sometimes, however, a song can be created just from a sound clip I hear somewhere or an idea that just randomly pops into my head.
14. Out of all of your albums,which album would you say is your favorite album? Why?
I think I’d have to say “The Great Crisis”. It was written during one of the darkest points in my life. My wife had been diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma and was undergoing chemotherapy. “The Great Crisis” reflects almost perfectly the feelings I felt during that time and that album helped keep me sane during a very difficult time in my life.
15. tell me more about all your album? The Great Crisis,Point of No Return,ATF,Worldwide Totalitarian Control,The Prisoner,The Rogue Pair?
As I just mentioned, “The Great Crisis” was largely influenced by the battle my wife was going through with cancer.
“Point Of No Return” was largely influenced by realizing that the grass isn’t always greener on the other side of the fence and moving back to California and learning who my true friends were.
“ATF” was more of an EP to get some remixes I’d collected released.
“The Rogue Pair” was influenced by my wanting to do a more dance-club friendly noisy album as that was music I really appreciated at that time. Thematically, it represented a change in my and realizing I had to take more control of my life.
Both “WTC” and “The Prisoner” were highly political albums that reflected the political climate in the United States back in 2004 and 2005.
16. How did you come up with the name of your band,C/A/T ? what is the key to making music from C/A/T ? and what inspires you to keep growing as a musician?
C/A/T stands for “Chaos And Terror”, so my next album will, in a way be self-titled. I originally came up with the name as I liked the way it looked graphically but always figured I’d get around to getting a concept behind what it all stood for – only took me about 10 years! :)
I think the key to making music is that I get as much of myself into the music as possible. My tracks need to mean something to me on a personal level. I have tried to make emotionless and cold music and just cannot feel like I can succeed doing that style.
I’m able to keep growing as a musician largely by just constantly experimenting and being willing to learn from my mistakes. Being around some very talented people over the years has also helped a great deal in keeping me motivated.
17. If there was one thing you want people to know about your band what would that be?
I guess to expect the unexpected. I’m not going to keep releasing the same album over and over again so the sound will constantly evolve.
18. What do you do in your spare time?
I enjoy exercising, reading, XBox 360 and spending time with my wife and our three cats. Making out to the occasional show or dance club is fun as well – but I tend to get my share of clubs when I’m out on tour.
19. What do you think of its intermingling with the electro, Darkwave and EBM scenes? while electro is your main musical pallet,what other music do you listen to?
I actually like events that happen that cater to all of the various sub-genres of this kind of music. It not only leads to a larger crowd but also gives people more options on how to spend their night.
I listen to all kinds of music and not just industrial or electro. Anyone that uses the site last. fm can look me on there and see what I’m listening to in realtime. My username there is “catatf”.
20. How long have you been in the music industry and how has it changed over time?
I’ve been involved for about 12 years now. Doing anything from a radio and club DJ to helping club promotions all the way to running Crunch Pod and also writing my own music. The big shift I think is switch to digital downloadable music from the CD model that was in place when I got started. It appears, from looking at the sales sheets, that more and more new people getting into this music prefer to get their musically digitally. It’s a shift that is taking some getting used to, but I’m trying to take advantage of this new model as best as I can.
21. “Chaos And Terror" is well into production, the official release date is getting pushed to late Summer of 2009 tell me more about this? I am looking forward for your full length album.
Thanks! I made the decision to push the album to August in order to sync up with a touring opportunity we have for later this year. It seemed to make more sense to delay the album a few months and have it fresh in people’s minds when we were able to finally tour to support it.
22. Please let us know about your upcoming plans, some new releases you like to confirm here.
C/A/T – Chaos And Terror – August 2009
Captive Six – The Great Crisis 2 – June 2009
Captive Six – Let It Burn – July 2009
“The Great Crisis 2” will be a special digital-only album that will be a sequel to the C/A/T album “The Great Crisis”.
23. It has been a pleasure to interview you on your musical activity,Well,any last words to your ebm-industrial fans? and what is next on the agenda?
I’d like to thank everyone who has taken the time to show their support for my music. Either by buying a CD or download, picking up a t-shirt or actually attending a show. You make it possible for me to be able to keeping doing this.
Next on the agenda is finishing up remix work for Caustic, Cervello Elettronico and C-Drone Defect and then polishing off the upcoming C/A/T and Captive Six releases. And then of course, hitting the road for some shows and tours later in 2009.
Thank you for the interview!!
C/A/T performing "Shoot to Kill" at Annie's Social Club in San Francisco, October 26, 2008
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