Russian Linesman is a Nottingham-based musician whose expansive discography, chalking up two studio albums alongside numerous singles and EPs, has picked up support from key tastemakers such as BBC 6 Music’s Nemone.
Following the release of Nick Muir’s remix of ‘The Road Back’ on his own Loki Recordings, we sat down with the enigmatic producer to ask him some questions about his approach to music making, life in lockdown and how utilises concepts in his tracks. In addition he recorded us a mix for the 137th Klubikon Podcast which you can hear below.
Thank you for talking to us today, and congratulations on your new release, the Nick Muir remix of the ‘The Road Back’ featuring Ben Norris – could you tell us a bit about how the remix came to be?
Thanks for having me. Nick gave me some positive feedback on my ‘Monomyth’ series. I happened to be listening his and John Digweed’s remix of FC Kahaua, when I received the message. I’ve had a few of these fortuitous moments over the last year so I thought I better ask him, luckily he was well up for it. The whole process was an absolute pleasure; he is the definition of a pro. He sent me multiple versions as he worked on the remix, asking me for feedback. Having someone of his stature asking for your opinion is very humbling. He listened, made changes and put me right when I was off the mark. He sent me the final version, then decided he wasn’t happy and reworked it again. He must have spent hours on it, and it shows as he took my original to a new echelon.
Your discography is impressive, particularly the lengthy ‘Monomyth’ series, which is where the original ‘The Road Back’ track first appeared. Can you tell us a bit about the project?
This remix is the epilogue for my ‘Monomyth’ series. A project that has consumed my artistic endeavors over the last few years. I read Joseph Campbell’s ‘A Hero with a Thousand Faces’. The book is an analysis of centuries of human storytelling, based around the theories of Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung. It provided me with the blueprint I was looking for. The ‘Monomyth’, or the Hero’s Journey, is the common template for most storytelling, a formula we are all familiar with in modern day films and books.
It ended up being a 6 part suite of EPs. There was a remix from Nick Warren and Nicolas Rada. I managed to convince Patriks Prins to reprise his Castle Trancelott alias for a remix too. I could talk about it all day but it would be more interesting for people to listen to it!
You seem to embrace concepts heavily when making music, could you speak as to why that is?
Concepts are great for any creative field. They challenge you to try different styles and moods when making something new. In terms of this project I found writing songs about enemies or death is very different to writing about a goddess or an elixir. It puts you outside your comfort zone, with the safety net of a template that will pull it all together cohesively at the end…well you hope so. As well as a source of inspiration, concepts also give you a mechanism for actually finishing songs and projects. Which I know some artists struggle with.
How did you meet Ben Norris? Is collaboration an important part of your music?
While thinking about conveying the idea of the ‘Monomyth’ I decided music alone would not be enough, it needed a spoken word element. I started writing poems about each stage of the Hero’s Journey but they were turning out either crass or just plain bad. I then heard about Dave Isay’s StoryCorps booth in New York. He was collecting stories from random people and I think it has now become the largest collection of human voices ever recorded. I thought that was a wonderful idea as everyone has a good story or ten in them. As my Mum says “you could write a book about it!” So I set about magpie-ing his idea and collecting stories from close friends, poets and people I hadn’t spoken to in years.
The project quickly developed a life of its own and all the individual stories twisted into a patchwork of yarns that tell an even greater story than I could have ever told on my own. In ‘Star Wars’, the droids make all the space opera weirdness accessible. My droids are my storytellers, my narrators. Placing some of the stranger musical moments within reach of the more casual listener. Some songs were written before and some after I collected the stories. Some didn’t go with the song I had in mind. So songs were completely destroyed and rewritten as a result, this sort of collaborative approach would not have happened with my obtuse poems!
Ben came to my attention when I saw him reading his poem ‘Rebel Heart’ on YouTube. It was commissioned as part of Nottingham’s bid to become a European Capital of Culture. Which I don’t think we got….which is a travesty as the poem is so funny and clever. For my ‘Monomyth’ he told heart-shredding stories that truly expressed ‘Entering The Belly Of The Whale’ and ‘The Road Back’. All of this while recording his parts for BBC Radio 4’s ‘The Archers’.
Does Nottingham, your hometown, impact your work at all? If so, how?
I have had a lot of fun and have lots of friends here. Before lockdown I sometimes saw great bands and went to loads of great nights such as Wigflex. There are a lot of people doing creative things, and the city doesn’t take itself too seriously. Everything we experience can filter into what we create. So Nottingham must have an impact. Be it the sound of tree rustling in the wind, or the glare of the sun through the smog while stuck in a traffic jam on the ring road!
Could you share your approach to production with us? What is your studio set up like?
It’s a pair of Fostex audio monitors and an M-Audio controller hooked up to a laptop. For a DAW I use the archaic software Jeskola Buzz. Everything takes ten times longer to do on it and you have to program automations in using hexadecimal numbers. However, it is so flexible and it works round your ideas almost ergonomically. If you ask it do something, you know it will. Just in its own time and down the road least travelled. This gives you a bit of space to consider your ideas as you go along, weed out the bad ones. It doesn’t let me rush things, which is good because that’s when I make mistakes. Plus you can pretend you are Mr Robot, sat there coding in the dark. My wife describes it as my mistress!
Do you have any equipment you couldn’t live without?
My acoustic guitar. I use it for writing my music. It is easier for me to get an idea out of my head organically rather than sat staring at a DAW on a screen. You can have all the kit in the world but you need some inspiration first. Unlike my golf setup which my friend Mike describes as “all the gear, no idea.” He has a lot to answer for though as he got me into drum and bass.
What initially drew to you music as a career path?
Career? It’s 2021 is anybody making a career from music…nobody told me!
With festivals and gigs still out of the picture for the time being, what have you been doing do to fill the time over the past year?
Well since becoming a father to my son Harald I haven’t really played out. 5am graveyard shifts down in Bristol don’t really fit with being a Dad. So I am a studio musician mainly now, like a B&M Bargains Beach Boys. The last year has given me lots of time to labor over my next project. Funnily enough one of the things that has kept me sane are the virtual listening parties I have been doing with the friends I met through my son’s baby group. Taking turns to share our favourite music. We affectionately call them our ‘Zoom Raves’. It’s forced me to listen to genres I normally don’t and I have learned so much, but tell them that!
Thanks for recording this mix for Klubikon Podcast, could you tell us about it?
You gave me complete creative control over the mix, so I decided to just make a mix of things I liked. It turned into a mix of songs I had been listening to in lockdown to keep me sane. So there are quite a few genres in there, plus a Mac Quayle song from the Mr Robot soundtrack. It’s ultimately a promotional mix, so it had to have the Nick Muir remix of me in it and a remix I did for the band Archive last year. Hope people enjoy it.
And finally, what’s on the horizon for Russian Linesman in 2021 and beyond?
As I mentioned earlier I have been working on a new album over the last year. I wanted to avoid making a lockdown album, as there are certainly going to be plenty of those about when this is all over. So while writing I have tried to escape into those moments of wonder from the past. When we were easily able to care for others and be cared for. I grew up in a Lancashire village which I miss dearly, a big chunk of my heart never left. My new project explores this. I have been working remotely with female vocalists to try and make it as collaborative as possible. Some wonderful singers from the Faroe Islands, Germany, Norway, Denmark, England and Seattle. I will not exist in isolation, it will an anti lockdown album. It’s going really well. Lyric writing comes to me much easier than the poetry did. I have played demos to some friends and they say it is a real change of direction and a great lockdown album ha!
Last Saturday I watched the film Bohemian Rhapsody (yes another Rami Malek reference). I was blown away. No one told me Queen were so amazing! I had dismissed them my entire life. How have I been making music over 20 years without understanding Queen, it’s embarrassing. So I decided I cannot write another note of music on this project until I have listened to every single second of their music, watched every clip and read every interview. This one’s going to be for you Freddie!
