Alleys of his Mind

Here's a full version of the interview I did with Juan Atkins...

Rock music used to have a monopoly on heritage acts, but electronic music, which by definition fixates on the future, is also re-discovering its past. Ironically, this fascination with pioneering 1980s artists comes as music-making technology gets more powerful, affording anyone with a laptop and basic software the opportunity to become a producer.
Maybe there's a sense of foreboding about giving machines too much power, but whatever the explanation, Kraftwerk have performed three times in Ireland in the past four years, Sheffield's synth pop bands The Human League, ABC and Heaven 17 are coming to town and now Detroit techno pioneer Juan Atkins aka Model 500 is the headlining act at the DEAF festival in Dublin.
In the 1980s, Atkins worked with Vietnam veteran Richard Davis as Cybotron, using obscure drum machines and synths to create a new music form called techno (the term comes from Cybotron’s 1984 release, ‘Techno City’). Releases like 'Clear', ‘No UFOs’ and 'Alleys of Your Mind' sounded futuristic, stark and precise, like they were forged in one of the city's abandoned car assembly plants, yet bubbling under the austere surface were familiar sounds and nuances that pre-dated even Detroit's Motown era. 
"My father was into jazz, so I got exposed to it," Atkins says. "He bought me my first guitar when I was 10 and I learnt drums, bass and then moved onto keyboards. I have always been an instrumentalist: nowadays there are people making music who can't play an instrument, and the one thing I liked about jazz is that it's all about the instruments. That's where the focus is because jazz musicians don't want to be pop stars."
As he grew up, Atkins listened to funk acts like Cameo, Parliament and Sly & The Family Stone, whom he tried to emulate when he started making music. “I’m sure that my friends have my early recordings, but I lost them probably because I didn’t think my music would become popular,” he says. “My stuff was all over the place, but then I heard Kraftwerk: their music was so clean, so precise, I was fascinated.”
Atkins took Kraftwerk’s robotic sensibilities a few steps farther, giving their melancholy electronic pop a metallic sense of rhythm that still sounds futuristic.  An avid fan of sci-fi novels and films, Atkins insists that he didn’t plan to make his music sound like it originated in the outer edges of the solar system.
"Those tracks were built to last," Juan laughs. "I put a lot of blood, sweat and tears into my music and if you dedicate a lot of time to your art, you hope people will like it. I loved Star Wars and I used to read a lot, but I didn’t have a blueprint, it just flowed and all the influences came together,” he says. “I didn’t set out to make a record sound a particular way, there was no conscious effort to give the music a certain sound. Maybe the fact that I didn’t try made it sound so pronounced to the listener. Even the guy who designed the logo for Metroplex (Atkins’s label) wasn’t given a brief, but he came back with a futuristic design. We were all on the same wavelength in Detroit at the time, it was unique.”
When techno exploded at the end of the 1980s, Atkins’s ‘Belville Three’ peers, Derrick May and Kevin Saunderson, became famous. Saunderson's Inner City releases like 'Good Life' and 'Big Fun' stormed the pop charts, while May was one of the first jet-setting DJs. Atkins, the reserved but most innovative producer in this grouping, never seemed to gain the same level of recognition or financial reward. Is he disappointed that he remained in the background?
"Derrick has dedicated a lot of time and energy into developing himself as a DJ brand - his profile and visibility are high on that circuit, but he hasn't made any new records in 15 years and a great record always trumps a DJ," Atkins says, a hint of disdain in his voice, before he quickly adds: "Derrick is still a good friend and I don't want to take anything away from him".  However, he appears to have more respect for Saunderson, about whom he says: “Kevin did a lot for Detroit, he put the city on the map.”
Last year, Atkins decided to try to reverse his fortunes and recruited  'Mad' Mike Banks, the leader of the militant Underground Resistance collective, and new Detroit faces Mark Taylor and DJ Skurge to perform live as Model 500. The band has played acclaimed ‘classics’ shows all over Europe this year. Does he feel that the shows fulfill his long-stated aim of developing a “black Kraftwerk”, a concept that he originally planned for Cybotron – or is he merely tapping into nostalgia for electronic music’s past?
“When you pay money to see an artist perform, you want to see a real performance,” he believes. “You don’t want to see them use a laptop. Our show is 100% live and I do all the vocals. With the music industry the way it is, people aren't buying music any more, so performing is the only real way to make money. That's just the way it is right now,” he believes.
“The sad thing is that illegal downloading affects small, independent artists the most: anyone who loves music owes it to the artist to pay to download - it could make the difference between someone making a living or not.”
The fact that Atkins hasn’t released any new material in four years - "I just didn't have anything new to release," he says – means he was off the radar in a scene where an artist’s presence rests on their ability to constantly put out material. In the meantime, electronic music’s means of distribution, production and performance have shifted from physical to digital. Has technology developed so fast and to such a degree that it has left him behind?
“Techno is synonymous with technology and evolution and there are lots of new ideas that we wouldn't have had without technology. There are also some people making music who wouldn't have been producers 15 years ago, but on the whole, it's positive - I'd rather have the technology. Hell, it's just progression, you gotta expect development after 20 years, you gotta roll with it."
Conscious of technological developments and having decided to continue working with ‘real’ equipment, Atkins secured an endorsement from equipment manufacturer Korg. Seeing as he spent the past 25 years teasing new sounds from their products, haven’t they slow off the mark to sponsor him?
“Korg gave us some equipment, but not beyond the call of duty,” he says. “The crazy thing is Roland, which have been at the forefront of this music with their drum machines, never gave us anything. Maybe we didn’t say ‘pretty please’ enough,” he laughs. “ At the same time, we’re not really making top 40 hits, so they’re gonna allocate sponsorship where they’ll get a return.”
Surely Atkins was tempted at some stage to write unit-shifting pop music to finance or just to procure more equipment to facilitate his groundbreaking work?
“No, I only make music because I’m passionate,” he answers. “I’d welcome it if one of my records were huge, but I’m not going to make a pop track, that’s too easy and easy is no fun. It would be great to have a few castles on a hill somewhere, but I ain’t complaining, my life has been easy – it’s better than zero.”

Comments

[kenny]

Odd, he says there is no material he has to release. there is seemingly a new Model 500 relsease in the pipeline - IFO (Identified Flying Object)

[Brophy]

Kenny, he did say he was releasing IFO and plans to play it in Dublin, but I ran out of space. The quote from Atkins was about the fact that he hadn't released any thing in years...

see you on Sunday!

[Martin Dust]

Great interview, text could do with a bit of formating to help it become more readable but nice one Richard.

[Manny Z]

Good stuff.

[3Lreckods]

"People don't pay to see someone on stage with a laptop".. sheesh. It is the means, not the method that is important! If what is coming out of the PA is moving the crowd, what does it matter what the PA is connected to?

M0051K MUST BE SET FREE!