Interview: Arno Vancolen

Arno Vancolen is a French musician based in Rouen who in his various post-punk guises has shared the stage with Michael Rother, Faust and Wire and produced several albums with his electronic rock group, Steeple Remove for labels like Sordide Sentimental, 3rd Side Records, Fuzz Club and more.

Drawing from a background of industrial, noise, krautrock and post-punk his gravitation towards electronic music has seen him collaborate with Laurent Garnier on a remix and recently take part in the Code QR series of veiled various artist releases.

TF: You live in Rouen. How does this place influence you as an artist?

AV: I have been living in Paris for 10 years now. I've got a house with my family and plenty of space so I suppose that’s influenced the way I work on my music and it’s really a good influence!

TF: When did you know that music is your true calling? What is your current state of mind?

AV: When I was 12 I listened to 'Purple Rain' from Prince and I immediately knew that I wanted to be a musician. His music was so free.

TF: Do you see music and the night culture in general as a way of escapism or is it more of a self-discovery experience?

AV: The both.

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TF: What new hardwares did you apply to make '6 Fragments' EP? Do you have a particular method while working in the studio? Why is the reason of this title?

AV: '6 Fragments' was the first track that I made for this album and it also sound nice to my ear. My method for this album was to work more with texture and sound than with traditional compositions. I made it with lots of guitars, sample, drone and filter with subtil evolution. I don’t want to make a complete electronic album. There’s synth but also acoustic drum and guitar drone because of their dynamic quality

TF: What do you think is the role of new technology in composing music? Do you rely more on digital or analog sound?

AV: For this album it’s all analogue sources, sometimes recorded on tapes with digital plug-in. I do most of my production on pro tools. I’ve got the precision of the digital tools with the warmest of the analogue world - something like a dialogue.

TF: Can you tell us more about your next release? Do you have in mind other projects ?

AV: I'm working from time to time on my solo work. You can always be inspired for your own music but sometimes I prefer to wait for a good moment to do it. But I constantly make music, production for other artist collaborations like with my other project, Steeple Remove or Staplin.

TF: To say goodbye, what can you tell us about the premiere track you publish with us? Any experience during the creative process? Why Saturn Studio?

AV: 'Saturn Studio' is an important track for me because it was a landmark for the rest of the album. Once I made it I knew that I'd found something. But it was weeks of really hard work to do something with the quality of simplicity which is my main obsession for my music. I always want to produce music with less changes, less arrangements, searching for some kind of purity. I think with this track I was close.