SOBRIQUET

INTERVIEW WITH ELENOR RAYNOR
DATE 05 JUNE 2004

WRITTEN BY GORDON TAYLOR OF INFECTIOUS UNEASE RADIO

Elenor Raynor is a well established respected musician in Melbourne Victoria Australia. Her voice has a wide octave range that is sensually pleasing to the ear. Her music is a well crafted a blend of electronic, trip hop, electro, and trance sound. She is very industrious working in many music projects. On Sunday 13th June 2004, she played three separate bands at three separate venues all on the same night. I imagine her speeding around Melbourne to complete each gig. She is a highly professional woman and very much down to earth. And a always a pleasure to interview live on Infectious Unease Radio.

BAND: SOBRIQUET

BAND MEMBERS: ELENOR RAYNOR

BANDS DISCOGRAPHY:
ALBUMS/ EPS
July
People don’t go out to clubs to get laid
Sobriquet version 1.1
COMPILATIONS
XLS - Venusa XX CD (Side-line femmale goth/industrial compilation).
Never Come Down (collaboration with Pound System) -You Know It
Makes Sense (Dancenet) Triple J's Mix-Up.
And More - Every Picture Tells A Story.
Pandemonium (collaboration with Other Peoples Children) -Refashioned (Creative Vibes).
People Don't Go Out To Clubs To Get Laid (live version) - 3RRR's Used and Recorded By.
Saturation - Scootver VI (Scooter).
Amphibian Preset (Sobriquet remix) - Nerve Agent (Festival).
Goodness - Dragonflight.
Pineapple Slice - Dragonflight.
Nobody Lives Here - Beatscootin (Groovescooter).
Jazz (collaboration with Starr) - Hempsense

BANDS WEB PAGE: http://www.sobriquet.org/

INTERVIEWER: GORDON TAYLOR OF INFECTIOUS UNEASE RADIO

AT WHAT AGE DID YOU TAKE UP MUSIC, WHAT INSPIRED YOU TO TAKE UP MUSIC? AND WHEN DID SOBRIQUET FIRST BEGIN?

According to my mum, apparently I wrote my first song at the age of 2... she can still remember how it goes so it must have been pretty catchy! Then I started playing bass guitar at the age of 14 in a band with friends from school and we were playing in pubs and clubs around town. I can't actually remember the moment when I decided that music was going to be the main thing in my life, it's something I've always known.

WHAT PREVIOUS BANDS HAVE YOU BEEN INVOLVED IN? WHAT STYLES OF MUSIC DID YOU PLAY IN THESE BANDS?

I started playing in a band called Soulscraper about 10 years ago after I bought my first keyboard. The music was industrial with really strong melodies and emotions. We released 2 EPs (one called "Heard It All Before" and one called "Neoanarcho").

WHAT INSTRUMENTS AND EQUIPMENT DO YOU USE WHEN PRODUCING AND PERFORMING YOUR MUSIC?
When writing I use a PC running Cubase. Also lots of other programs like ReBirth & other software. I also use hardware: got some analogue synths & modules and my trusty ASR 10 sampler which I've had for 10 years. And I use guitars, bass, vocals. Live, I just take the ASR10 coz it has all my samples in it, also built-in fx like reasonance filters so it is a really flexible instrument for playing live.

WHAT CREATIVE PROCESS DO YOU GO THROUGH WHEN COMPOSING YOUR MUSIC?
it's weird but i just kind of get an overwhelming idea for a song and it kind of takes over. I never plan to write something in particular, it's all just emotions coming out. My songs are dead honest.

YOU HAVE SIDE PROJECT CALLED CRYSTALLINE EFFECT. HOW DID THIS BEGIN AND HOW DID MEET PETER CRANE FROM LADY HOUSE OF SCANDAL?

The Crystalline Effect started when Peter Crane put an ad up on Primary for a singer. With Sobriquet I do all the programming as well as writing the vocals but when I saw his ad I thought it would be good to work with someone else doing the programming and I could focus 100% on just the melody and lyrics. As a result, I think the lyrics I write for The Crystalline Effect are my best. With Sobriquet, I can convey some of the meaning in the music but with TCE, I have to condense it all into the lyrics. So we end up with songs that are very deeply emotional. The name The Crystalline Effect came from a vocal effect I used on one of our songs.

WHAT OTHER COLLABORATIONS HAVE YOU BEEN INVOLVED IN?
I have a third project called "I Forget" which is going really, really well and is very exciting. The 3 others in the band are all top musicians and programmers. I write the songs for this project but their input refines the songs and it s sounding so good! We spend heaps of time working together and have just about finished an album. We're also just starting to play live. I also play live keyboards in Snog, do lots of vocals for assorted people such as Jim & Greg from Discordia's new project, also for Pound System, Electrosausage and have done tracks with people like Ehsan from Bubble & Squeak, Ben Trudinger, Jason Sweeney from Prettyboycrossover...lots of people really.

YOU HAVE REMIXED A TRACK FOR THE BAND HUNGARY LUCY’S ALBUM GLO. HOW DID YOU MEET HUNGARY LUCY? WHAT WAS IT LIKE WORKING WITH THEM?

7. Both Hungry Lucy and Sobriquet were on a compilation called Venusa and they heard my track "xls" and asked me to remix one of their songs for their double album Glo. So I listened to their stuff and chose a track called "In The Circle" and it turned out really well and is on their album. It was actually the first time I've done a remix for a band that has vocals. Uusally I get asked to do dark remixes for people in the dance scene so this was a change to work with a vocalist, but she has such a beautiful, delicate voice that I could relate to the emotion in the song.

YOU HAVE PRODUCED MUSIC FOR FILM, TV AND VIDEO’S COULD YOU TELL ME WHO YOU HAVE WORK FOR. WHAT WAS IT LIKE WORKING FOR THESES ORGANIZATION? YOU HAVE PRODUCED A TRACK CALLED ”EYESORE” FOR A NEW AUSTRALIAN MOVIE CALLED RAZOR EATER YOU COULD TELL ME A LITTLE ABOUT THIS FILM AND HOW DID FILMMAKERS GET IN CONTACT WITH YOU?
I don't really pay much attention to when people use my songs on TV, film etc. It's flattering when they do but that's not the reason I write music. If someone happens to relate to a track and wants to use it, then that's usually okay with me.

COULD YOU DESCRIBE SOME OF THE MUSIC VIDEOS YOU HAVE MADE?

I enjoy making videos, although I don't find it anywhere near as satisfying as making songs. I think I've done about 10.

YOUR VIDEOS HAVE BEEN PLAYED ON ALCHEMY. CHANNEL V, AND CHANNEL 31. WHAT SORT PROCESS DID HAVE GO THROUGH TO HAVE YOUR WORK AIRED ON THESE TYPES OF NETWORKS?

My videos are all totally different to each other and I think those shows like the variety.

WHEN YOU GET THE TIME WHAT MUSIC DO YOU ENJOY LISTENING TO?

Whenever I get something I really love, I listen to it constantly.

I REALLY ENJOYED YOUR ALBUM “JULY” FOR IT DIVERSE SOUND. WHAT WAS THE INSPIRATION BEHIND THE MUSIC AND LYRICS? HOW LONG DID IT TAKE TO PRODUCE AND WHAT WAS THE PROCESS OF PRODUCTION!

Glad you liked July. It's actually a very personal album. Originally I never intended to release it, it was just for me but people persuaded me and now I'm kind of pleased that people like it so much. I
get lots of emails from people telling me that certain songs mean a lot to them. So that's satisfying. There are some really, really old songs on that album, such as "Eve" which was the first song I ever programmed.

YOU CURRENTLY WORKING ON A NEW ALBUM COULD YOU TELL ME MORE ABOUT IT AND WHEN WILL IT BE RELEASED?

The new Sobriquet album is called "A Salamander Has Become Unhappy". I'm not sure when it will be released, I don't want to rush it. At the moment I've put it on hold while I finish the "I Forget" album coz it's hard to be in two different frames of mind. The two bands are completely different and I don't want to diffuse the strength of either of them by working on both at once.

YOUR MUSIC HAS BEEN ON A LOT OF COMPILATIONS. WHAT COMPILATIONS WHERE THEY.
I lost count after number 20 compilation. Occasionally I find a cd in a shop with one of my songs on it that I didn't even know about! That happened with a Triple J Mix-Up album. So I bought it and it was a great album. My favorites are the Venusa album coz that's all female
vocalists and there are some great songs on that. I also like an Australian compilation called "Beatscootin" which I listen to a lot.

WHAT GIGS DID YOU ENJOY THE MOST AND WHAT WAS THE AUDIENCE RESPONSE?
I enjoy all gigs as long as the sound is good which it is most of the time. Probably my favorite gig was at the Goth Ball in Auckland last year. On the bill were some really, really good bands and I
enjoyed all their sets and then played quite a mixture of different styles and the crowd got into it all which was great.

IS THERE ANYTHING SPECIAL INCORPORATED WITHIN YOUR PERFORMANCES?
The live shows are all really intense.

WHEN YOU HAVE A PERFORMANCE WHAT GOES THROUGH YOUR MIND WHEN YOU ARE ON THAT STAGE. WHAT IS IT THAT YOU FEEL? WHAT SORT OF EMOTIONS DO YOU GO THROUGH WHEN THE EYES OF THE AUDIENCE ARE ON YOU?

Each song has its own emotion and every time we play I relive the whole thing. After a gig I always feel very drained.

WHAT MEMORABLE EXPERIENCES HAVE YOU HAD WHEN PLAYING LIVE?

Mostly I remember people saying things like how they relate to the songs and how they affect them. Some people have said my songs have helped them through difficult situations in their lives.

DO YOU HAVE ANY FUNNY OR INTERESTING EXPERIENCES YOU WOULD LIKE TO TALK ABOUT?

Heaps of things happen on tour that are really really UNfunny at the time but once we get home, it's okay. Like the time the keys got locked in my car with the motor running parked sideways across the street outside the airport with about 2 minutes to go before our flight to Hobart....

WHAT ARE YOUR FUTURE PLANS?

Nothing is really planned. I have a need to write songs and that's all I care about. When there seem to be enough of them that fit together well, that becomes a new Sobriquet album. The next one will be called "a salamander has become unhappy".