Interview by Toupee

Someone Else is Philadelphia's Sean O'neal, whose musical inspiration is already deeply embedded in his family roots; his grandfather was a high school music teacher and also played bass with Bill Hailey and the Comets, and his father was also in various rock bands throughout the '50s and '60s. Since 1994, Sean has been the force behind his ever-evolving, kitsch-driven electro-pop outfit Flowchart, releasing dozens and dozens of albums, singles, eps and comp tracks on different labels from all over the world.

Where are you living these days and why?
I am sort of in limbo at the moment. I am answering this interview from my flat in Philadelphia, USA. But Miskate and I plan to relocate to Berlin in late July. We are not sure how long we will be there.
It's all up in the air at the moment.
 
What labels are you currently involved with?  Tell us about them? (if you're not still involved with Tuning Spork please tell us about what happened) how did you get involved with them?
I currently work with Foundsound Records and Unfoundsound alongside Cyhl (a.k.a. Fusiphorm) and Kate (a.k.a. Miskate). We also get a lot of help from Ben Parris, Barem and Rich Henning (a.k.a. Diss0nance). I also still hold down the Fuzzy Box label, which I started in 1994. But I have not released anything on Fuzzy Box in years. It's more like an electro-pop/indie rock label. Maybe I'll do more with it some day, but not in the near future. As for Tuning Spork, I sort of stopped being involved with it around 2002 -- or somewhere around there. Jay Haze, Bjoern Hartmann and I started it together around 1998 or so -- when we all lived in Philadelphia together. But when Jay and Bjoern decided to move to Europe, I opted to stay in Philly. So from there, we decided that it's best that I focus on the new Foundsound label while they continue Tuning Spork.
 
What equipment do you use now to produce? what were you using ten years ago? what decisions did you make or what happened to change your approach in the meantime?
These days, I use mainly an Apple computer, a microphone, effects (digital and external), and some synthesizers. Ten years ago, my set-up was roughly the same -- only that I was using more drum machines and external samplers along with a much weaker Apple machine.
But everything I did in the past using hardware can be done mostly with just the computer alone these days. But if you asked me what I was using fifteen years ago, I would be talking about guitars, amplifiers, Moogs, Korgs, and reel-to-reel recording studios.
 
How would you describe your music - is it minimal? experimental? both? how?
In terms of categorizing it genre-wise, I guess it's minimal. But only in a sense where the sounds themselves are smaller than, say, sounds implemented in an average house track. But many of my tracks are actually quite dense. Minimal is a misleading word. The creation of my tracks usually entails me recording stuff with a microphone that is within one arm's reach of my studio chair. This can be anything from dropping a pencil onto a hard floor, slamming a door, a squeaky chair, my own voice, the radio, or whatever. Then I will use these sounds as percussion or melodies in whatever track or loop I am working on. Then it all sort of unfolds from there in a sort of mindless way. Effects come into play a lot as well. Obviously, I am a reverb junky.
 
Which other artists (apart from your friends in unfound sound of course) are you currently finding interesting and why?
I still like some of the classic artists -- like Matthew Herbert, Monolake, Losoul. and old stuff on labels like Klang Elektronik, Soundslike, Freude Am Tanzen, and even Drop Music when it's not too cheesy. As for newer stuff, I have been enjoying stuff on labels like Igloo, Esperanza, Catenaccio, Mo's Ferry, and many others.
 
What are your general plans for 2007? what is the best thing you've done so far this year and what are you most looking forward to?
Generally, I plan to do a lot of touring, dish out a few remixes, continue to hold down my labels, move to another country, get married to Miskate, and start another album which will surely take me about a year to finish. I am looking forward to all of it. As for the best thing I have done this year, it's hard to say. I hardly remember yesterday.
 
Have you ever been to australia before? how did this tour come about? do you have any expectations about australia? what are they based on?
No, I have never been there. Since my album just came out, I felt it might be a good idea to play some gigs over there to promote my album -- in a place where I am a bit less known compared to European and American countries. It came about through a conversation with a girl named Melody from New Zealand. She helped arrange a gig for me there. And she introduced me to another promoter or two in Australia. And then Franco Bianca introduced me to the Stock crew.

And then the whole tour sort of unfolded from there. So indeed, I am stoked to visit the land of marsupials -- a place where mammals don't exist aside from us humans and whatever dogs, cats and mice we brought to this gigantic land mass. Maybe this is quite normal for you to contemplate. But for me, it's quite interesting and bizarre from a scientific point of view. As for my expectations, I am already quite aware that the minimal scene there is still very much in a growing period -- just like the States. So I expect many of the parties to be somewhat small and similar to how it is in the States. So it's something that I am already quite used to.
 
How often do you write music? how would you describe your writing process? are you prolific or sparse? what inspires you to write?
Well, the process is described above. And yes, I am prolific, I suppose. I work on music every chance that I get once I am in my studio. However, I almost never make music on the road. And since I am touring most of the time, I am not working on music as much as I would like to be. As for inspiration, I require none. It's pretty much an automatic process for me.
 
What equipment do you use to play live and why?
Lately, just a computer and a midi controller. I used to bring out more like drum machines, effects and sampling keyboards, but I stopped because I was getting killed by low budget airlines charging me extra money for the extra bags. So I was forced to trim down my set-up.
 
If you could have or design any piece of equipment in the world and then use it musically what would it be? have you ever designed your own equipment in the past?
No, I have never designed my own gear. But if I did, it would probably be digital effects, music software, or a midi controller.
 
Are you a nightclub lover? do you go out a lot to enjoy music?  do you think nightclubs do your music justice? any inparticular? tell us about a time you've been out somewhere and heard your own sounds. does it happen to you often? how do you feel?
Sure, I like nightclubs. If I didn't, why would I do what I do for a living? I tend to play somewhere around twice a week, so I seldom visit nightclubs for fun these days since I am already at them so often. And yeah, I do hear people play my tracks often when I am out.

The only story that rings in my mind took place about four or five years ago at the Winter Music Conference in Miami. I was there with Miskate. I DJ'd a couple small parties there for my record store at the time, 611 Records. Then Kate and I got really drunk on $8 Coronas, and went to a club to hear Richie Hawtin play. By this time, I was shitfaced drunk -- hardly able to stand. Somewhere in the middle of his set, Richie dropped my "Poop Loop" track on Tuning Spork. A couple minutes into it, I was still dancing and turned to Kate and said, "What is this? This is really good!" She looked at me like I was crazy and replied, "Um, this is your track, stupid." And I realized that indeed it was. And I was really stoked to hear a legendary and respectable DJ play one of my tracks. And that was the first time I had an experience like that.
 
What were you going to be before you became an electronic musician. how did that come into being? were you taught or bought your first instrument?
I come from a musical family. So I sort of always wanted to do music one way or another since I was a small child. My father was in a couple successful rock bands, and his father was a music teacher at a high school as well as one of the bass players in Bill Hailey and the Comets. At an early age, my mother got me heavily involved in choirs and musical plays. So I was singing and dancing a lot at a young age.
Once I was grown and in college, I was studying English and concentrating on being something like a writer or college professor.

But I never finished school because music (Flowchart at that time) took up too much of my time. But later, I started working as a journalist for newspapers and magazines. I wrote mostly about music, but other things as well. The writing jobs continued only until recently. I had to recently quit all the writing jobs because there is no time anymore for it since I do music full-time these days.
 
What do you think you'll do next - do you have any or many new projects on the go or in the planning? music projects or otherwise?
There are a lot of collaborations in discussion. Barem, Miskate and I are planning on creating a special live act of some kind. Miskate and I also plan to do a chill album under a new alias for Anticipate.
And I will also continue to do what I am already doing.
 
Does your act moniker 'someone else' mean anything in particular? do you enjoy the idea of anonymity and as an artist haveyou ever achieved it?
The name came from one of my writing jobs. For many years, I was doing the club listings for a Philly newspaper. And at the same time, I was DJing myself quite often around town. Each week, I would find myself listing my own name one, two or three times per week. I didn't want it to seem like some sort of shameless self-promotion to the readers. So instead of listing my own name, I simply replaced it with "Someone Else." And that's where the name came from. When we launched Tuning Spork, I decided that it would make a great artist name afterall.
 

He ('someone else') is playing live at min-x @ velvet lounge next saturday 30th june, with free entry.