03|24|05

The beginning, and demos:

I started Gridlock in 1993 as a form of expression: "Heaviness through electronics".  For me, this objective never changed.
Having come from the thrash/death metal background, I was bored with the "band" scene of *constantly* practicing the same songs over and over and wanted to pursue something more experimental/heavy/without boundaries or limitations. Additionally, having total control over the musicians became key in my pursuit of my next project, and hence Gridlock was born with a Korg hardware step-sequencer, Roland D-50, R-8 drum machine, and my 4-track as a mixdown deck/mixer. The D-50 became the cornerstone of the Gridlock sound, and was used as heavily on the 1st demo as it was on Formless. In the beginning, sequencing & computers were financially far from my reach, and hard-disk recording (not to mention soft-synths) weren't even a glimpse in a father's eye yet. I pretty-much became a gear-junkie at this point, and spent every spare penny on a new peice of gear. You'll watch the kit grow as you read this.

A slew of tracks were written including "III" (the 1st actual Gridlock track), "Sickness", "Frantic" and additional other "starts" while pursuing a vocalist. I went through a number of people until I met Cadoo through an old roomate/former thrash-metal bandmate, and we started working together.

I was able to purchase a computer (a 486-66 DX2 with 4-megs of RAM, lookout!) and get a MusicQuest MQX-32 midi interface with SMPTE support, and Twelve Tone's "Cakewalk 1.0 for Windows" on Win3.1. The interface would make you laugh if you saw it today. My original studio was in a tiny spare-room at an apartment in the Haight in San Francisco. I lived with my then girlfriend at the time, and so I had to cram-into this tiny space. The acoustics were horrible, and there was barely room for 2 people to sit with the gear, it was quite comical. The studio was called "the Igloo" because it was damn-cold in that apartment that received no sun, had no insulation in the walls or windows, and had no heaters.

Demos:

"Gridlock" (cassette)
The original demo in mid-95 was simply called "Gridlock" and had 3 songs:

Sickness
Domina (early version of Ich Dien, think "Nature's Revenge" and you know what it sounded like)
Frantic

Only 25 copies were made, and they all went to local club DJ's/promoters/labels.
B/W front cover with text on it. I don't have one.

"Sickness" (cassette)
The "Sickness" demo was finished with us writing "Pulvis" one night over Newcastles.
The vox were recorded onto a Fostex 4-track that was slaved via SMPTE, striped to one of the tracks. The mixdown deck was my old JVC Cassette deck.
I lost count after the 350 mark of how many "Sickness" demos were made. We had a deal at the time where if you filled-out our webpage I would send a demo, anywhere. Free. It was an invaluable marketing tactic to get the Gridlock name out there.

Sickness
Pulvis Et Umbra Sumis
Frantic
Metro (Berlin cover, only on some of them

"Sickness" (CD-R)
There were 20 CD-R's made from this demo which included our version of Berlin's "Metro" that went only to club DJ's in the states. The disk had a different cover (B/W picture of a crane). I don't have one. The effort worked well and DJ's had "Metro" playing at clubs. It raised attention for Gridlock, but it also was confusing as none of our other work was dancefloor-oriented.

"Empty" (cassette)
There was a demo titled "Empty" that only had 35 copies made (cassette).
It had an early version of "Burn", "Ich Dien", a song called "Empty", and possibly one more, I think a different version of "Halo". Don't have a copy.

Halo
Ich Dien
Empty
Burn

"Frozen" (cassette)
We went back to the drawing board, re-worked "Burn" again and finished another track and made the "Frozen" demo in 1996.
There were around 100-150 of these demos made, to my recollection.

Burn
Ich Dien
III
Halo

Gear used during the demo era:

Cakewalk 1 for Windows 3.1
MusicQuest MQX-32 2x2 interface
Fostex 4-track (3, if you count the SMPTE stripe)
JBL 4208 Monitors with Crest amplifier
Panasonic SV-3700 DAT (for mix-down)
Roland D-50
Yamaha TG-55
Emax rackmount sampler (original, 3.5 floppy front-load with no hard-drive)
Roland R-8
Tama Techstar Brain
Alesis Quadraverb
Mackie 1604
Alexis 1630 Compressor
DOD FX processor (it was Cadoo's for Vox, don't remember the model)
Some old Boss half-rack gear for vox processing
Delta Lab analog delay (end of "Sickness" vocal mod that goes wack-o)

Playing Live / 1996-1999

I picked-up an ADAT and some Tama Tech-star electronic drum pads, and worked towards creating the live performance vision that I explained to Cadoo one night at my apartment. We went through 2 KAT Midi-Kiti trigger interfaces that NEVER worked, and finally was able to score a DM-5 for cheap to use as a trigger interface, which worked much better.
We enlisted another former bandmate and good friend to play live drums (Bobby Cochran, who is now
Hands Upon Black Earth) which worked well for a while, but schedules couldn't line-up and he split after 2 shows. I picked-up the live-drumming at this point, and Cadoo took-on synths as well as vocals. This live presentation worked well through Further. The rig was as follows:

ADAT
(One track had a hi-hat "click track" that was fed to a small speaker on the drum kit so I could
keep time with the submix. There were 2 stereo sub-mixes that had tracks
& track overlays to keep the set "flowing" along like the records.)
Mackie 1604
(We handled our mix on-stage and sent L/R to the mains & monitors)
Focusrite Green MicPre & DBX1066 compressor for vox (This came in right before Further)
Digitech IPS-33B for effects
DOD FX for vox
Roland D-50
Korg Z1 (added around Further era)
Drum Kit
(This was the tama pads, triggering through the DM-5,
which fed MIDI into an EMU ESI-32 which had the drum samples loaded.)

The Synthetic Form (1997 - Pendragon Records):

There were a couple of well-established local industrial labels in SF at the time, but noone wanted to sign us. With half an album written, I called Colm O'Connor from Pendragon records and flat-out told him he needed to sign my band, and after he heard it, he'd want to. He laughed at me and said "send me a demo". Two weeks later we were in negotiations. Colm was a wonderful person to work with, and it was a great break for us as we both loved the artists and philosophy of Pendragon Records. We agreed to have an album's worth of material finished by a certain date, mixed, and mastered, and in his hand for a release. We were getting along great and busted our asses writing for the next few months and finished the CD. Additionally, I now had the apartment to myself and moved the gear into the living-room which was much more condusive to writing. Downside was that it was even colder in that room. One morning there was frost on the carpet. No lie.
Pendragon was very picky about artwork, and Cadoo was able to find the cover art while searching on the internet. Colm loved the photo and Cadoo did the remaining graphics and layout for the CD.

Gear used during "The Synthetic Form" era:

Cakewalk 4 on Pentium 133
MidiQuest editor/librarian
MusicQuest 2x2 interface
JBL 4208 Monitors with Crest amplifier
Mackie 1604 (2, linked with Mixer Mixer)
Panasonic SV-3700 DAT (for mix-down)
Roland D-50 (2)
Yamaha TG-55
Roland R-8
Emax
Emu ESI-32 (Acted as Synth & Sampler)
Alesis 3630
Alesis ADAT (no more 4-track)
Alesis Quadraverb Plus
DOD FX
Digitech IPS-33B
Lexicon Morpheus
Some old Boss half-rack gear for vox processing
Delta Lab analog delay
Steinberg Adat timing interface
(Coverts Adat timecode into MTC to slave Adat's to computer without track striping)

Due to not having many synths, we did multiple synth tracks onto the ADAT, along with the vocals.

Further (1998 - Pendragon Records):

Enter Hard-disk recording reality. Our audio card for this release was the SoundBlaster AWE-32. It would compress & distort the signal in ways no plugin can, and we loved it. Cadoo was fully-entrenched in Drum&Bass and was bringing a lot of it to Gridlock writing sessions. I, by contrast, was going through personal issues and was much more interested in gigantic, dark, harsh industrial waste-scapes. We were able to comprimise and the D&B influences are readily audible in the release ("Scrape" & "Without" are great examples). Most of my memories of writing this record were either loaded, extremely angry, depressed, or all at the same time. Up until 2am and sometimes passing-out while playing a synth. Fun. There was one funny day though when my mom was over and we wrote the track "Further" in one day, starting with the synth note that is pitch-bent throughout the entire track. My kitchen sink was busted and we even had a plumber over that day, it was a circus. He had some smart-ass comment about the music as I remember, but my mom took a hilarious picture of his ass-crack. Typical plumber.
I bought some new toys during the Further timeframe that added new dimensions to the Gridlock sound. Most notably were the Korg Z1, the Nord Lead II, a Yamaha AN1x, and a Yamaha DX7. I also bought a Roland Juno 106 off Ebay, but the seller totally lied about it's condition and it took me about a year to completely rebuild it and find/order some parts that were damaged. I fully restored it and it was used on "Formless" later when it was in acceptable condition (cosmetically and sonically). It looks practically brand-new now. :)
The old method of using samplers & midi events were about 50% replaced with audio clips in the sequencer going through the SoundBlaster.
Cadoo took-over creating cover-art as it would be cheaper and more in-house, as was our philosophy. As neither of us were happy with the mastering of "The Synthetic Form", I took-up the mastering duties as I was fascinated with the process, and still am today.
Pendragon records sold to Metropolis shortly-after "Further" was released, and promotion for the album literally stopped.

The Further timeframe pre-Dryft is my happiest memories of the band. We wrote for hours and hours at a time, and our commraderie and collaboration was fantastic. The music flowed-through us without even trying, it seemed.

Gear used during the "Further" era:

Cakewalk 6 on Pentium 200
MidiQuest editor/librarian
MusicQuest 8x8 interface
SoundBlaster AWE-32
JBL 4208 Monitors with Crest amplifier
Mackie 1604 (2, linked with Mixer Mixer)
Panasonic SV-3700 DAT (for mix-down)
D-50 (2)
Korg Z1
Nord Lead II
Yamaha AN1x
Yamaha TG55
Roland R-8
Korg ER-1
Yamaha DX7
Emax
Emu ESI-32 (Acted as Synth & Sampler)
Alesis 3630
Alesis ADAT (2)
Steinberg Adat timing interface
Alesis Quadraverb
Alesis Quadraverb II
-Digitech IPS-33B
Focusrite Green MicPre/EQ
DBX 1066 Compressor
Lexicon Morpheus
Some old Boss half-rack gear for vox processing
Delta Lab analog delay

5.25 (1999 - Metropolis Records):

Things were going slowly trying to write new material, and we had a commitment left to Metropolis, so we worked things out with Dave and agreed to release "5.25" as a bunch of folks were asking for demo material, and our version of "Metro". We did have some fun writing some "jams" as they were at the time like "S>R" and "5.25" and putting them out. We shut-down the idea of doing an "Under" side-project as those techniques were integrated into Gridlock.

The kit-list for "5.25" was identical to "Further", along with pulling-out old DAT's and finding material to release. Later I compiled and edited a number of "jams" into the "Under" release that came out on Piehead.

Trace (2000 - Unit Records):

We started doing rough-writing for "Trace" / sorta "getting back in the groove" of writing when my neighbor caught the building on fire. We were both at my place, thankfully, about to start working when the fire broke-out. "The Igloo" was no longer cold. We were able to move most of the gear down the fire-escape to the back-yard where outside it was about to rain. Let's just say I've had better days.
None of my gear was actually damaged in the fire, with the exception of some of my old guitar gear (totally destroyed) in the front closet, where the studio used to be. The fire department did a fair-amount of damage just putting-out the fire.
We stopped work for a couple of months and landed a rehearsal space in downtown Oakland, CA at a place called "The Music Loft" where we set-up shop next to the Donnas and AFI. We bought a pair of the new Mackie PA speakers (SR1530's, 1000 watts per side, LOUD!) as one neighboring band would drown-us out anytime they played. Our schedule underwent a lot of trial & error in attempts to find times that worked for our sanity. Writing the album was difficult, and at times we didn't get along that well, but eventually the album started to take shape, and Cadoo enlisted Lynda Mandolyn to do guest vocals for a couple of tracks, which injected some inspiration into the sessions.
I feel that "Trace" is our most experimental record in that it goes through many changes throughout. There was much more experimentation as in a way I felt we were "lost" due to the move and my inability to write at all-hours of the night as I did during "Further" and before.
I bought a Sonorus StudI/O card to take-over from the SoundBlaster, as I felt the SB just wasn't pro-audio enough.
It had an analog output that we ended-up blowing trying to emulate the compression artifacts of the SB. :)
The sampler-based triggering was completely replaced by audio events in the computer at this point.
Mixing this record was very trial-and-error, as mixing on a PA was very confusing after working with nearfields for so long.

Gear used during the "Trace" era:

Cakewalk 9 on Pentium II 350
MidiQuest editor/librarian
MusicQuest 8x8 interface
Mackie SR1530 PA
JBL 4208 Monitors with Crest amplifier
Panasonic SV-3700 (for mix-down)
Nord Lead II
Korg Z1
Roland D-50 (2)
Yamaha TG-55
Yamaha AN1x
Yamaha DX7
Roland R-8
Korg ER-1
Digitech IPS-33B
Alesis Quadraverb
Alesis Quadraverb II
Lexicon MPX-1
Lexicon Morpheus
Alesis ADAT (2) / used as DA converters from the Sonorus card
Sonorus StudI/O audio interface
DBX 1066 compressor
Alesis 3630 compressor
Focusrite Green mic-pre/EQ

We went out for some shows for "Trace", it was our first non-live-drum shows and we found ourselves in Ottawa, Canada on Sept. 11th 2001. The "Trace Tour" that became "Live Traces" consisted of:

Roland D-50
Effectron analog effects box (for the D-50)
Boss Compressor pedal
Laptop running Reason
Minidisc player with submix
Behringer 6-channel mixer
Alesis Wedge multi-effects unit

Our setup was myself playing the D-50 and Cadoo using Reason for synths and samples while we both played over the submix on MD. I've never been a fan of the "laptop jockey" show mentality, but the cost of moving the drums & racks around for the old-style show just didn't fit into the budgets of the promoters available to us.

Singles, Comps, and Remixes, and more Comps:

During the break between Trace and Formless, we entered a slew of contracts to do singles, comp appearances, and remixes. While I agreed that "staying out there" was important, I also feared we were developing an "assembly line" approach to writing, rather than experimenting and growing between releases. This, in my opinion, was a key factor to the big duration in time between Trace & Formless, as growth just "wasn't happening" and a lot of tracks weren't that great. Eventually, we reached an agreement to make no further commitments until the new album was complete.

Quality over Quantity I still stick by. Call me "lazy"...

Formless (2002 - Hymen Records):

We started work on Formless in Oakland, and I was actively pursuing a new space to live where I could have the studio back. I found a Live/Work space in an old Sears department store in San Francisco, and we moved the studio back to SF and I called it "the Mothership". After the Trace tour I had fun buying gear to outfit the studio to new levels of quality. I also bought Sonar, but it proved too unstable to use seriously and sat in its box.

During Formless I setup a 2nd computer station so we could both be working at the same time, rather than taking turns in the "driver's" seat. This provided more material, but it also furthered a divide between us as we weren't communicating as much as before.

Mixing of "Formless" was a daunting task. There were more layers, tracks, and hardware to account for than any release prior. I was obsessed with a certain sound and quality (Big, Big, Big), and usually spent 2-3 days mixing one track. Personally I believe the results speak for themselves, but the issue of mix quality and time spent per track had its toll on our working relationship.

Gear used during the "Formless" era:

Cakewalk 9 on Pentium II 350 (Same one used on Further, and it still works!)
MidiQuest editor/librarian
M-Audio Midisport 8x8 (The MusicQuest finally died)
Alesis Masterlink (Mixdown deck)
Mackie 32.8 buss console
Mackie 1604 (used as a submixer)
Mackie HR-824 monitors
Furman patchbay interfaces (3)
SidStation
Nord Lead II
Nord Modular
Korg Z1
Kawai K5000S
Roland D-50 (2)
Roland Juno 106
Emu Morpheus
Waldorf Microwave II
Yamaha TG-55
Yamaha AN1x
Yamaha DX7
Roland R-8
Boss DR-202
Korg ER-1
Digitech IPS-33B
Alesis Quadraverb II
Lexicon MPX-1
TC Electronics D-Two
TC Electronics Fireworx
Lexicon Morpheus
Effectron analog effects box
Sherman Filterbank (2)
Alesis ADAT (2) / used as DA converters from the Sonorus card
Sonorus StudI/O audio interface
TC Electronics Compressors (2)
DBX 1066 compressor
HHB Fatman compressor
Alesis 3630 compressor
Focusrite Green mic-pre/EQ
Tascam 2-track 1/4" deck (used for fx processing)

2nd Workstation (The "Soft Synth" workstation):

Pentium II 300 with M-Audio Audiophile interface
Oxygen8 controller
Absynth (Synth doubling, effects creation)
Audiomulch (Beat creation)
Reason (Beat creation)
Fruity Loops (Beat creation / Soft-synth export creation)
Reaktor (Synth doubling, effects creation)

Ok, well onto the next adventure. That's all, folks. Cheers,
Mike Wells