“The female figure being, the female being, is the center of all my economy”
You certainly can’t get bigger than outer space, that much is for sure. American electronic producer Jonathan Bates is aware of that fact. But he and his alter ego BIG BLACK DELTA see the big picture. At least that’s what this year’s self-titled sophomore album sounded like. Ambitious on one hand and quite catchy and danceable on the other. This year’s Berlin Music Week was the right scenario to get a closer look behind the man that is BIG BLACK DELTA. NOTHING BUT HOPE AND PASSION sat down with Mr. Bates and talked about his cinematic sound constructions… and cats, naturally.
So, it`s been a good year so far for you, BIG BLACK DELTA?
Yes..yes..
Any highlights so far?
Being here in Europe, being in Berlin. We just played in Ireland and it`s our first time doing a European tour. When I started to make music and called it BIG BLACK DELTA, it was just for fun you know. It was just on the laptop. The fact that I´m speaking with you guys is quite a thrill!
When I did research I stumbled over a headline that said “BIG BLACK DELTA is like DEPECHE MODE mixed with ELO.”
(laughs) Ok, Il take it.
You agree with this?
It`s a really, really nice thing to say about somebody I think.
Do you hear it often?
Yeah, pretty much.
Favourite track from ELO?
You know what, not so much an ELO fan as I am Jeff Flynn. The work he did with THE TRAVELLING WILDBURYS and he also produced these two b-sides when THE BEATLES put out that big anthology.
He did?
Yeah, and you know, George Harrison said that if THE BEATLES had stayed together they would sounded like ELO. You know what I mean. Jeff Flynn is one off my biggest heros.
So what’s your favorite ELO song?
Favourite ELO song. uhm.
I must admit I only know like three songs.
Yeah, it;s probarly one of those three. Let me think, I’m really bad at that.
So, how would you describe the new record is different from the first one?
Well, the first one wasn’t really, I mean, official, just a friend of mine who printed up, I think, 250 or 500 copies, something like that, on vinyls, and that was it, you know. That sold out really quickly and I didn’t expect anyone to give a shit. Suddenly people started getting interested, and I started getting interest for management, labels and the whole world. So, they were like, we would like to put this out, and I allready had a new record written. And that was six months after I put it out and I thought that a nice balance would be ok: “You take these songs you guys thinks you want to put out and Il give you six or seven new songs.” And, so that was kind of the middle ground where we met, and so that’s what that is. I’m working on another new record right now. So I am just always trying to output.
You also, worked on videos with director Warren Kommers. Is there is a unifying idea behind it?
I really enjoy astrophysics, I enjoy astronomy, and I enjoy all those things that I just do for fun, you know, but I don’t want to make it look like The X-Files or trying to be gimmicky or the green headed guy thing. So for the videos it was more like other things that I really love. FRED ASTAIRE and Bob Fossy, MICHAEL JACKSON always had nice moves and stuff.
Are you a good dancer?
What? Me?
Yes, you!
No (laughs). I’m a horrible dancer. But I call it ‘Bless your heart dancing’. But you know, in the same way, David Byrne or Ian Curtis, they did their own thing. They just do their thing, whatever it is and that’s all I can do. But, no, I’m not a good dancer..
So the whole album sounds quite epic and huge and it;s almost like a movie score. Are there any movies you were thinking of?
Yeah, if you watch Blade Runner or the original Solaris, there is nothing more powerful when a image is properly synced up with music that helps it. There is nothing more powerful than a media statement ever. I love rythems and beats. If you just want to wash your dishes after your dinner you can still do it. But, if you are stuck on a train and you close your eyes, it will take you somewhere else. I mean thats the two world I’d love to combine. I don’t know if I done it yet, but, that’s the world I would like to make.
Is there a recent movie you would loved to have scored?
Loved to have scored.. Shit..
I mean, was there a movie you saw recently where you were like “Ah, that worked really well together with the score.” Have you seen “Drive”?
I was just gonna say Drive. Drive was perfect because the visiual matches the score. My buddy, Anthony from M83, who just did Oblivion score which was perfect. Joe Trapenese, the guy that worked with DAFT PUNK before. I feel like Joe is the guy that would take your thing and help you. Put it into a orchestra setting and I really like that. For example, there’s really well known scores, like the Batman sounds, like “arhhhhhhh” (laughing) “laaa, du du du” or Angelo Badalamenti who did all the Twin Peak stuff. Actually, some of the music is better than the visuals.
On a different note, do you like cats? I see a lot of cat portraits and you in pictures with cats.
Yes! If I could have dogs, I would, but cats, live a lifestyle that is easier for somebody that is touring. Actually we have a video that we are just finishing, it’s an animation that’s stars my cat “Jake”, this big, black cat, that is going to rescue me for a bunch of stuff. I fucking love animals, (laughs) , if I could have like 100 dogs, cats and chickens, pigs I would. But, I can’t…
So, coming back, is it true that you chose a solo project because you are tired of forming a band? Did I read that correctly?
You did! my band MELLOWDRONE was me essentially, but with band members. We had guitars and it was a very analouge kind of thing. We were together for 6-7 years and we had a peak and it just started to go downhill again. It’s very hard to come from here down to here (gestures with hands) and the guys in my band was just tired of not making money and they all had jobs and shit like that. I just got tired of pushing it, so I quit making music for 2 years and was a delivery man, worked on movie sets. I have been a professional musician since I was about 18. So let me just try, I thought, to be what I call the flat screeners (meaning people that like flats creen TVs) and come home in the end of the day and check out. I did that for a while, but it wasn’t enough.
BIG BLACK DELTA: “Not to be cocky, but I’m one of the best guitar players I ever met and I can play any instruments, I can play the fuck out of it”
You choose your laptop as an instrument, and there’s still a lot of prejudice against that. Soo..
Not to be cocky, but I’m one of the best guitar players I ever met and I can play the fuck out of it. But with a laptop, especially now, that democratic station of making music, with garageband and so forth. Little things like that: if you are imagining a bird flying into a window and pots and bands are falling down and that’s the song. You can make that happen. So, I dare anybody to test my musical abilities. I would actually like that. Please.
People still have misgivings or prejudices about it. I mean, even when DAFT PUNK released their very basic disco album, they said they couldn`t have done it without digital techniqology. Everyone is using it, so why are people fighting it?
I try to remember: What am I trying to do? I’m not trying to make music to impress a bunch off-white dudes in a music store or just sell gear. I want to make music, like I said, you either have sex with your girl, washing dishes, or a drive a car, something that involves you in life. That makes you feel good. And I don`t think anyone gives a fuck if you are shredding on it or you are playing a carving guitar as a Fender or nobody cares about that. Nobody cares about how you get to that song, from my experience. I went this very esteemed music school at the age of 17 and got a scholoarship. I mean, I know music. But I want to have a good time. So, I don’t care about how to get there, I studied that all. This, to me, is the most fun I had so far..
And, you get any other favourite artists/singers you would love to work with in the future?
Yeah, right now I’ve been, I don`t know if you are familar with the Norwegian artist SUSANNE SUNDFØR?
Yes, of course!
We have been working together on her new record.
Cool! Did Anthony make the contact?
No, we all had the same kind of management and publishing, thats how I met Anthony initally. Susanne very gracialiosy called me up. She was staying in a house a block away from where I was staying. She said “You want to try and sing?” so we did, and her boyfriend at that time and I got along really well and playing music on my new record and I was playing music for him. It`s great to be around really talented people regardless of their sex. I want to be better than what I do, and being around someone like Susanne makes you fucking better.
In the future, do you have any collaboration plans with M83?
I’m open to anything. Right now I’m touring and doing remixes and stuff. Working on my next record and that presents itself to you and that just takes time.
Can you remember the first record that brought you to electronic music and thought “ooh, thats the sound” Like a key moment, a key record or song?
No, let me think. There is something about electronic that I love. So, VANGELIS, The Blade Runner soundtrack, that really gave me fever state. I remember when LADYTRON came out for the first time. Thinking “Wow”. this is really good songwriting and simple electronics. The first NINE INCH NAILS record. Remember being a kid hearing that and I was like “awesome”.
BIG BLACK DELTA: “If you ask me I’m open to anything, I’ve seen some shit, I’ve come close to death, I know what it looks like to look over and I just want to be good”
I read that JAY Z is a fan of yours?
Yeah.
Did he already ask you for beats?
No, not yet!
Final question we always ask. What do hope and passion mean to you, as an artist?
Well, what does that mean to me.. Everything, it’s all I have, cause hope that I will get better and passion is that thing that actually causes the energy for me and go out and do it. So you are defining me as a person by those two words.
It’s also a bit of hard work, isn`t it?
It’s all hard work. I think that falls into the passion umbrella. If you are passionate about something, you don’t care about how hard it is. You just want to get there..