BT - 25th May 2000
Interview
Friday 26th May 2000
We caught up with BT (Brian Transeau) at his hotel room the day after after Musik's 5th Birthday @ The End, just 2 days before Homelands England.
You were telling Seb Fontaine last night of all the places you have been touring recently...
I've been all over
the shop, and even played a couple of places with Seb. Everywhere, from
Melbourne, Perth, Sydney, Adelaide, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Taipei,
Manila... to Miami.
Do you prefer clubs to festivals?
I love the energy
of a place like last night [The End], 'cause there's people up there
that want to see what you're doing and they can see what you're doing...
they're like "Dude, look at that!". It's not the same when you're in
a forum with thousands of people. It depends what you're in the mood
for. I like doing both of them.
How do you spend your time at festivals?
I like to go and
take in as much of it as I can, and there have been times when I've
gotten to hang out - when I played the Phoenix festival I got to hang
out. That's a great one. T In The Park too - it depends schedule-wise.
We don't have the traditional festival experience that you guys have,
English festivals are a very different thing that you have.
Who are you going to see?
I want to see my
friends basically, and hang out. Sasha, and Jon, and the Hybrid guys.
The album is coming out for the first time in America on June 6, and
there's a version of 'Movement In Still Life' coming out in England
that features a bunch of tracks from the American record - it's a bunch
of remixes and stuff. That's out on June 12 for the first time.
Your new album is more breakbeat as opposed to the dreamy-ambient material before. Why the change?
Depends on the kind
of person you are, what you feel about it. With me, it seems pointless
to take a stick and wiggle it to a fine point, and I have friends that
have done that with a great deal of precision and made careers out of
that, I admire people that do one thing, and only one thing, but do
it very well... but it's just not me. I go from studying classical music,
studying piano Suzuki method, to being into breakdancing when I was
11, playing drums in a punk band when I was 14, then playing bass and
singing in a hardcore band when I was 16. Then I went to Jazz College.
I'd be bored shitless if I did the same thing over and over again. It's
the kind of person I am. I'd much rather experiment and fail than regurgitate
the same idea over and over again... 'cause at least in experimentation,
you're going to eventually contribute, and contribute something important.
That's the risk I'd rather take.
You've collaborated with Tori Amos in the past, and now Kirsty Hawkshaw, on "Dreamin"...
The thing is, because
I'm not in a band, I'm not a DJ, I'm a musician... so getting together
and collaborating with people is my extended musical family. It's my
way of resonating with other creative people. All these people are part
of my little musical family, an extended band.
Hotels, Winnebagos or Tents?
Ha! I'll do a tent
in a park, but not at a festival. That must be sooo much fun though...
if anyone's got a cool tent, let me know. I've never been able to do
that before!
Come the revolution, who would be first up against the wall?
That's a weird question...
I think you can learn more from people you dislike, than people you
like, so, no one!
Brian was given an eFestivals t-shirt at the time of this interview, which he decided to wear for his performance at Homelands England - read a further interview here.
Thanks to Andy and Matt from Plug for their help.
interview by Butterfly
eFestivals is 
