TALK! BOOzine chats to Spire Cranes

Boo! caught up with Spire Cranes a.k.a. Richard Smyth to chat about his album, influences and some important halloween related matters. (Translation: Kerry and Richard stood outside the Harp Club chatting after they had both done a gig there.) For the uninitiated, Spire Cranes makes solo electronic music where glitchy beats and looped sounds meet intense lyrics and origami cranes. Kerry: How long have you been doing music and have you been in any other acts before Spire Cranes? Richard: I started when I was about 11 playing the guitar and then at about 14 started my first band but it fell apart, you know? Drummers. K: It's always the drummers... R: Then I started getting into electronic music, started with an eight-track recorder just doing crazy beats and stuff and eventually moved up to a computer. When I was 18 I did electronic death metal. K: Sounds interesting... R: It was interesting definitely, it sounded awful. I knew nothing about production back then. After that I got really into post-rock. K: I think you can still hear that in your music. So you have been solo for quite a while? R: Yes, since I was about 18 but it wasn't until I was about 23 that I realised what abelton could do that I started performing, before that it was all just recording. K: I was thinking about that. Your songs are quite complex, how do you write and how did you work out how to perform the tracks live? R: I use Logic as a canvas for writing songs. I see it all as different disciplines, writing beats is one thing, writing lyrics is another, riffs are another, sometimes the songs start with a riff but other times with a beat, then I bring it all together. K: I've seen you play guitar, do you play any other instruments or do you do everything else electronically? R: I dabble in piano, but wouldn't class myself as a keyboard player.

K: You are obviously well into your beats as well, you have some crazy rhythms in your tracks. R: Its funny because I don't like dance music but I love electronic music, its like when I heard Squarepusher and Aphex Twin, after hearing that every other type of dance music sounds redundant. Also Bjork, she was the one who got me into electronic music in the first place. K: Mike will kill me if I don't ask the question about the production on the album and what software you used. R: Putting my ego aside it was two of us that did that album, me and a guy called Chris Barn, who does something now called Pretty Scary Productions. We did the album back in Uni, would have been recorded using Logic and Pro Tools, as well as a few plug-ins like Live-cut, Buffer Override and SupaTrigga which are freeware plug-ins and Effectrix – they created the glitchyness. K: Now the Halloween questions, you are going to a Halloween party, what's your costume of choice? R: I'm that guy who says 'I'm not dressing up' but if I had to it would probably be the Joker, it's something you could do easily with white and red. K: That would suit you I think. What's your favourite scary movie? R: The Ring. The American version – it terrified me. K: What would you add to a Halloween playlist. R: The Misfits would have to be in there – Halloween. Check out Spire Cranes at https:soundcloud.com/spirecranes, http://spirecranes.bandcamp.com/releases, http://spirecranes.tumblr.com/