ghetto electro

We have over 30 artists with us now & are constantly growing. People get confused on what we do, or who we are. We promote those with ghetto electro, so the ghetto electro artists. We do not just bring in people, & we are not a label. We are to those GE artists, but not a general one.

To do good promoting, you have to concentrate on certain people. We have a committee of four of us who make sure things get done. Ken (President & founder, Sihn (offers web services to GE artists & artwork), Julie (runs the Carbondale area branch & does interviews for GE artists & promotions), Casey (promotions).

People contact us on a daily basis. & we do have friends outside of the GE family that we do help. But our main concern is the ghetto electro family!

Julie interviewed Justin from Glitch Factor from St.Louis MO. for us, sometime in November 2006. Here it is:

Julie:First things first, Mac or PC?

Justin of Glitch Factor: We use both actually. Mac for recording music, PC for creating music. That’s due mostly to what software is available on which platform. I like them both equally, though.

Julie: Now that that’s out of the way, we’d like to get a feel for who you are personally…could you give us a little peek into who you are?

Justin: ME huh? Well if we’re just going off of “Justin” in the scope of the group……
First of all, I love music, obviously. Industrial is my primary love, but anything from Jazz to Classical, to Prog to Hard rock/classic rock…all kinds of stuff. I wouldn’t consider myself a “punk rocker” or someone who hangs out at music clubs all the time. I’m very ecstatic with people I know, but not very outgoing otherwise. I’m extremely easy to get along with…I have no enemies. (I hope I’m going in the right direction with this.) I’m a huge procrastinator and hate that about myself. I’m very sarcastic, and some people have told me that I’m hard to read sometimes, but I don’t think so at all. Things I’m into are audio, recording, computers, home theater, movies, toys (yes I collect toys, and that is my nerdiness showing), guitars, synths, and long walks on the beach (had to throw that one in). Oh, and I’d snowboard all the time if I lived in a place that I could.

Julie: When and how was Glitch Factor started? Who were the original band members and who are the current members today?

Justin: Glitch Factor was formed in 2001. It’s sad because we haven’t done a lot in all that time, but we’ve had a lot of rotating members. I guess we’re like Nine Inch Nails in the way that Glitch Factor is basically ME. I write all the songs, play a lot of the instruments, and record it. Originally it was myself, Mike Hansen (DJ Cold Fusion) on keys, and Chris Sewell on vocals. Mike couldn’t do it anymore, so Brian Anderson who played drums with me in my previous band (The Body Electric) joined. At the same time, I asked Brad to play bass and Greer Gezzey to sing. So, we went for a while with the lineup of Me, Chris, Brian, Brad, Greer, but didn’t get beyond the practice/record phase. We went on a breakup/hiatus for a little while, because it wasn’t working. I looked to do some other projects. I almost joined Paul before his latest reincarnation of Murder Happens, but I realized I REALLY wanted to play my own songs. So I started Glitch back up with Myself, Brain on keys, and Brad on bass again. Soon after, Jim Wolfe joined on as lead guitar. He was playing in a YES tribute band with Brian at the time. We practiced like that for a while and realized we needed a live drummer, so Jim told us about his friend Andy Marks. Sooooo……we finalized Glitch Factor with that setup. Justin - guitar, vox; Jim - guitar, Brian - synth; Brad - bass; Andy - drums. We played some shows with that lineup as the now OFFICIAL Glitch Factor. We were joined by Simone Riehl as a 2nd vocalist for a short time, but she left because of “musical differences” I guess. The jury is still out on that one. Oddly enough, the same day Simone quit, Andy did as well, so he could spend more time with his family. Since our drummer left, we had to rethink a few things. So THAT brings us to the CURRENT and hopefully final incarnation of Glitch Factor. Justin - guitar/vox; Jim - guitar/synth; Brad - bass; Brian - drums/synth. Wow, that was WAAAYYYYY too long of an answer.

Julie: Who’s the goofball of the group?

Justin: That’s difinately Brian…….he’s got some kind of twisted sense of humor.

Julie: Glitch Factor’s sound is so unique. How would you describe your music.

Justin: I like to say Electronic Rock. It’s industrial, but more along the lines of early KMFDM in a “pop” sort of way. We mix a lot of sequenced AND live drums, lots of heavy guitar, and lots of synths. Some songs have female vocals in the recordings, but we put off looking for a replacement singer. Look for some interesting changes to come.

Julie: Who have been your biggest influences? (musically and non)

Justin: Kurt Cobain, was really my first BIG influence. Following the influences of THIS band’s direction, it kind of started with 80’s new wave, and stuff like Peter Gabriel and Genesis, later on, Information Society, KMFDM/NIN(big ones), Depeche Mode, Big Black, Ministry, Rob Zombie, Smashing Pumpkins…there’s too many to mention, but those are the BIG ones, where we really grab our sound from (as far as my writing goes). Some more recent ones and some from other band members include, BT(huge), Dream Theater, Yes, Zappa, DJ Dieselboy, there is a pretty big list on our myspace page.

Non-Musical Influences? Midi and Distortion Pedals, plain and simple.

Julie: What message are you trying to get out there to your fans?

Justin: That’s a tough one. I never really thought about that. I really make music because I enjoy doing it, and I enjoy the stuff that I write, and I just think that a lot of people that are into the type of stuff that I’m into will really enjoy it. I wouldn’t say that we really have a “message” we’re trying to get out besides……..”LISTEN TO OUR MUSIC” hahaha

Justin: If you were stranded on a desert island with only a laptop, which one piece of equipment would you bring, and why?

Justin: As far as music gear goes?? I would have to say my guitar. That’s my primary instrument. I can always manipulate that and make crazy sounds with it. You can’t get in your face distorted guitar sounds with a synth.

Julie: What are your personal favorite songs of your own, and why?

Justin: “Mean” always has a special place in my heart because it’s one of the first songs that I wrote. It’s evolved over time and in my opinion it still sounds good. Plus it’s less industrial than the rest of them, so it can reach more people. Second, I would have to say “Sun” has always been one of my favorites. I just like the riffs. It’s pretty raw.

Julie: What has been your most memorable live performance so far?

Justin: Well that’s kind of a tie. We had a huge AWESOME crowd at the Blueberry Hill show with Murder Happens and (6). But playing with Slick Idiot at the Creepy Crawl was pretty freakin cool.

Julie: What are Glitch Factor’s plan for the future? Can we be expecting a new album anytime soon?

Justin: Oh man…..this album should have been out a LONG time ago, but unfortunately I’m a perfectionist and things are NEVER done. Of course since I’m engineering it…I’m a firm believer of learning new things every day. Now the album sounds much better now as a result. We’re shooting for an early 2007 release at this point. After that….doing some out of state shows is a big one.

Julie: So Justin, you are going to be producing the second Ghetto Electro Productions compilation, what can we be expecting out of that?

Justin: Yes, I’m really looking forward to getting everyone’s submissions. The last one was great. Ken and his crew did an awesome job. Basically I’m getting song order in a fashion that flows, and doing mastering if and where needed. A compilation is definately about a feeling, and you need to make it so that you don’t blow your load so to speak all at once and then put all the slow songs at the end. You need to keep people’s interest from start to finish. That’s where I come in.

Julie: What is the name of your studio? Tell us a bit about how that started and what types of things you do.

Justin: Well I don’t really have a “studio” myself short of a room in the basement where I create my songs, but I work at a place called SmithLee Productions in Maplewood. SmithLee is one of the oldest studios in town. It’s been around since 1979. I’ve worked here for almost 3 years. I’d really like to get some more Ghetto Electro bands in here and get past the “project studio” sound that plagues so many great artists. A lot of people get turned off from a good song by a sub par recording. I hate to say this, but the Ministry album Animositisomnia is one of my favorite Ministry albums, but it sounds so harsh that I have to turn it off after about 3 songs. Now obviously, this wasn’t recorded in someone’s bedroom, but it’s a good example.

Julie: Is there anything else you’d like everyone to know?

Justin: BUY OUR ALBUM…oh wait you can’t cause it’s not out yet. Well in that case…..DON’T FORGET ABOUT US, it’s coming ! And come to our shows. In fact come to everyone’s shows because St.Louis music scene is dwindling. I don’t see NEARLY the amount of people I used to at, say, a Full On Venus, Die Symphony, Radio Iodine, or Bellyfeel show. We hear this ALL the time, but support local music! Top 40 stuff is total and utter crap right now, so there is no reason not to.
http://www.glitchfactor.com

http://www.myspace.com/glitchfactor0

Be sure to check out the new ghetto electro forum. It’s in the link section. Let us know what you think!

We will be releasing ghetto electro newsletters every few months. We just released the first issue at the Oct 27th show featuring Dead Sexy, Murder Happens, Polarized Mind & DJ XBOT. We are going to revamp it a bit & mass produce it. So if you want a copy & are not in a area that a ge artist is in, e-mail us. All artists will have issues of this as soon as we finish up with the revamping.

We are also working on the 2nd issue! It will feature a interview with Glitch Factor, done by ghetto electro member, Julie. She will be doing reviews from here on out, in every issue. She also runs the Carbondale area branch of ghetto electro.

Please help us spread the word on ghetto electro(which means all of the artists)