Jaymz Dare: News

Please go to YOUTUBE for some of the lastest music set to an Slide Show.

Hi all exciting news Jaymz Dare is now on www.pandora.com live internetradio, make me your station and you will here cool music similar like mine.

The new Julien-K album "Death to Analog" is on the Billboard "Heatseekers" indie chart at #37 and #10 on the Billboard "ELectronic" chart if you don't know yet Jaymz Dare has two songs on the album (Forever & Stranded) I co/wrote with Julien-K this is cool.
JD

This about the new release "Julien-K" - "Death to Analog" out on March 10. Which Jaymz Dare co/wrote two songs. Please check this album out it is really great. http://www.metropolis-records.com/
JULIEN-K INTERVIEW
Current mood: fascinated
Category: Music





JULIEN-K
Long Beach, California
(Unedited)



Julien-K is a band that is known by many and perhaps they are not even aware they know the name or where they have heard them before. Their track “Technical Difficulties” was a standout on The Transformers Soundtrack. But, they have also played live before large crowds with Projekt Revolution and then a tour with Evanescence. Their long awaited CD “Death to Analog” is being released March 10, 2009 so we took the chance to speak with Ryan and Amir to find out more about what to expect.



MUEN: Thanks for taking the time to meet with us and talk about the band and the new CD.




MUEN: Ok so since Julien-K was the lead character in the film “American Gigolo” I need to ask how you chose that name for the band and does it match the members of the band or the music?

(Laughter)
Ryan: I think it was a little bit more but you are the first person to actually know where the name came from but that’s fine. You did some research. I think the original idea was to have an alter ego sort of like his DJ as he was a DJ as well and the idea he (the character in the movie) had was to also have an alter ego. As we started becoming a band we also thought it was a really fucking cool name. So it is not really like American Gigolo it is more that it sounded like an android with a futuristic feel to it like some sort of synthetic human.

MUEN: I have seen or heard your performances in Rough Cutt (Amir) and Sex Art (Ryan) and wondered how you started with such a rock sound and how the evolution to the techno/electronica/industrial sounds of Julien-K came to be?

Ryan: I think a bit different for both of us. Do you want to start?



Amir: Sure. Honestly before I ever played guitar I wanted to play synthesizers as it was a time when they were starting to be known and I was fascinated with the sounds and the music that people were using with Moog’s and Arp’s and stuff in. Unfortunately, or fortunately, I couldn’t afford one. My cousin actually beat me to buying a synthesizer and he bought it and I would play around with it when he wasn’t at home but then I thought alright I’ll just play guitar. The things started happening and came along quickly so I thought I am supposed to play guitar. For years I wanted to do more electronic stuff. But in the beginning you couldn’t really do that synthesizer sound. I did start using synthesizers on the second Rough Cutt record although the band didn’t want me to mention anything about it since they didn’t think it was cool. Judas Priest was the first to do that and they ended up getting various slack for the record “Turbo Lover” which I loved but it was bashed. I remember hanging out with Rob Halford and talking to him about that and telling him that you guys spawned me out of all that. Now I have come full circle as Orgy was the first opportunity. When it was forming I wasn’t going to be a part of it. I was acting as more of a producer/engineer and said to Jay as a singer and Ryan that I am not going to play unless I can play guitar/synth and just wanted to do something different. So that was my first chance to start getting in to the electronic was Orgy. I pushed really hard for Orgy to be really electronic. Ryan and I were really in to more electronic music and wanted to do even more so that is sort of how Julien-K came about. It was not our intention to become a band but one thing lead to another and we had all these ideas in our head and it just came out that way.




Ryan: Similar for me in that I grew up in a small town in California and I had no frame of reference but I liked electro music and liked Depeche Mode and the keys in The Cure. But the only instrument that I understood and could even acquire was a guitar at the time. It wasn’t until I started playing guitar in bands and seeing others with keys that I started going oh wow that’s pretty cool but no bands really wanted to do that. It wasn’t until these guys, Amir and Jay really, that it starting coming together. Amir thought of a really genius way to bring the keys in to Orgy and I said fuck that’s cool. So that was just that and also the evolution of the software etcetera being available to start doing more. The revolution of digital recording made this really easy to get in to that kind of stuff. For me as a singer, I tend to write over electronic beats and synth stuff. Guitar rock I just don’t really think of vocals and stuff over that.




Amir: I think the first song that comes to mind, that probably as I think back about it because I am a DJ and I think about me getting in to that as well and how that sort of transformed to what I play as I am DJ’ing, was Donna Summer’s “I Feel Love.” It had that unique sound and was such an influence. It was Giorgio Moroder that really influenced me and did the electronic soundtrack for American Gigolo and actually produced Donna Summer’s “I Feel Love” that made me realize a lot later, and even realized more just a few years ago, why that is really the kind of stuff I like and understand and why we covered “Blue Monday” in Orgy. It was like what was it about all that that I really liked from all that kind of music? I liked the straightforward beats and the driving bass lines and finally finally got to a place where I could do that. I think me getting in to that sort of transformed to the music I am playing now as well. Learned a lot along the way and have no regrets about any of that.




MUEN: Speaking of Sex Art, many really amazing artists such as Jonathan Davis of Korn and Dave DeRoo of Adema came from such a short-lived band. Have you kept up with them and the others Ryan?




Ryan: Yeah I keep up with all of them. Absolutely. John was instrumental in that relationship of forming Orgy and then Korn started playing some music I wrote and it was like the first light bulb that went off in my head that wow we can make a lot of fucking money doing this. Shortly after Orgy was signed and the record was out and we were getting big I realized all my old friends from Sex Art had formed Adema and I was like fuck, that must have been a talented group of people. That must have been something special. I am friends with all of them and love them to death and am great friends with Dave. I don’t see John as much since he doesn’t live anywhere close to me. He lives on the other side of the hills here.




MUEN: So you have restaurants close by to where you live that you own?



Ryan: We have three. The one that we are partners in is called Lola Gaspar that is a dark edgy cantina kind of vibe that is a place that we created where we can take friends or have bands or meetings there. We now have to have a place where we can do business that is awesome as we are also entrepreneurs as well as the records and music. The environment is awesome.
The other two are the same restaurant but at two locations and a more daytime and healthier vibe. We designed the night place so we can just plug in and do our DJ sets impromptu. It fills up at like10 o’clock and we can have dinner at one in the morning since they serve till two. It’s our type of shit. That’s what we were looking for in great wine, great food, black chandeliers with a gothic meets punk feel for our kind of place.




MUEN: Julien-K toured with Projekt Rev in 2007 with Linkin Park etc. and then Evanescence and Sick Puppies later in the year. How were those experiences and what was the most interesting thing to happen in each?

Ryan: They were great tours and it was just great to see that Julien-K worked live especially with these rock bands. We’re an electro band and the fans of these heavy rock bands totally loved us too. There was not a bad night where they did not like us. Even with Orgy in the beginning people didn’t always get it until they heard our hit on the radio. With Julien-K we wanted to do it backward and prove that we are not just living off of Orgy or just spinning shit on the radio. We wanted to go out there and prove that we could rock with Linkin Park and Placebo, Taking back Sunday and Evanescence and MSI and hold our own with them and compliment them. Bringing a new sound in to that kind of rock was something very, very important to us.

Amir: One thing that was cool was that the tours were very different in that one was during the day and one was indoors at night and gave us the chance to create two different environments for the performances. We learned a lot from each. Obviously we preferred the indoors and dark and the lighting. It was a chance to play before people who have no idea who you are and you have to win over new fans every night. People are not really nice and will let you know if they don’t like you. But we never had that and thought fuck, we must be actually be kind of good. It proved itself without having a record or anything.

MUEN: So you guys also went down with Evanescence to Mexico which is emerging as a very viable music market. How was that?

Ryan: It was amazing and really cool. We had a great time! We played to sold out shows and ten thousand or more a night and they just ate us alive which was great. We still get messages in Spanish on our message boards saying hey what’s up. Love to do more there. We had a blast!

MUEN: So about the band members and that dynamic. Since Stevie (Ryan’s cat) is “the Chief Military Advisor,” then who is indeed the Supreme Commander? Ryan or Amir? Or both?

Ryan: I am probably the supreme commander and Amir is the dark prince.

MUEN: I like that! It’s cool!
Your CD, which according to your many fans is much awaited and sought after, is to drop March 10th. Why three different versions with the limited edition and the vinyl?

Ryan: Because we are capitalist pigs!
Amir: We had such a plethora of stuff compiling remixes of stuff over the past few years that we always planned on doing some sort of a companion record or separate thing of remixes. What we ended up doing is putting them all as a bonus disc that is a limited run. The vinyl is the ultimate contradiction to the title “Death to Analog.” I am so excited that we are going to have a record first off and then to have all the artwork and all its glory that will go with it is great. Vinyl is fun and has come back. So, cool and why not? It’s a double record and all the pictures inside and a couple of the remixes are exclusive to make that one special.

MUEN: How did you choose what was to be on this CD and the other editions especially the remix choices as we just did an interview with Combichrist and there is one of their remixes on the limited edition?




Amir: As far as the songs, these are just basically the ones that have stood the test of time playing live. We don’t finish off stuff if we don’t feel it is good which is something we kind of always did in Orgy too. It is quite complex to record the way that we do. It is not like some guy comes in with a bass drum or something and we blow out ten songs in one night. Everything is created from the ground up. All the sounds and programming go through many, many changes over time. Some come together really quick and others take some time. As far as the remixing stuff, that started as a bit of an experiment for me and I now have been able to work with some of the best remixers and such and have had the chance to work with some of the greatest artists like Combichrist. They made the song even darker and scarier.

MUEN: How is your music written and who does what in music and lyrics?

Ryan: We both sort of equally write music but Amir is more the producer and steers the ship with the quality and the direction and I am more of a lyricist and melody guy.

MUEN: We heard from The Delta Fiasco on interviewing them that they have utilized your home and studio Ryan for recording. Is that where most of your work was done on this CD?

Ryan: Yes. That’s where most of Dead by Sunrise, that’s were Julien-K, that’s where The Delta Fiasco, the Transformers “Revenge of the Fallen” was created. All of it is created at either mine or Amir’s studio. We live close to each other and have pretty decked out studios in our homes that are exact duplicates that are real live studios and not just a converted bedroom. We work so fucking much that I don’t know how we would do it if they were not in our houses. At some point maybe we will move them somewhere but right now it works to have ..Brandon.. working on some music and Chester up in L.A. tracking vocals and then returning here to work on combining them and writing more for Dead by Sunrise. Amir’s house is set up for programming and mixing and mine is set up for a lot of people to be there but the gear is the same and redundant. My house has no privacy mainly and is ground central or ground zero for all these bands to do these songs and say that shit will be on the radio next year so that is cool.

MUEN: Noticed there is no bass player in the live line-up so, other than those listed as “official” band members, who all have contributed to the writing and recording of the songs?

Ryan: Chester and Fu mostly but there are some other people. We both have friends that play on the record in some capacity.

Amir: I actually co-wrote a couple of songs with my cousin. Scott Cutler also wrote some things too. We purposely don’t have a bass player in the band. That is how it’s meant to be. What we are doing in Dead by Sunrise is the more typical lineup with Brandon playing bass and Fu playing keyboards. We really wanted to blur the line in this band and have the computer running that (the bass) in Julien-K. The bass is really important and so we use the technology to make it more prominent and different.

MUEN: There have been a couple of tease tracks released for download and a sneak of the video last year for “Kick the Bass” on YouTube very briefly! How was Playboy chosen for the limited release of the full version of the video and why?

Ryan: Well because it is an X-Rated video and it was a way to get more eyes on it. It is pretty rare to have another outlet to play it. Cool idea.

Amir: We had an opportunity to make an artistic statement and we thought it (the video) was worthy to do this. We felt this was another artistic outlet like a painting rather than just a performance video. It’s nice to see something like this that says a lot more. It is something that will also be around for a long time that says a lot more than just a performance thing too. You have to have both and we do have both.

MUEN: Will the video ever be made available for sale in the original version and how is the edited version to be available?




Amir: The edited version will be on iTunes and then there is an even more explicit one than the one that was on Playboy that is set to a “She Wants Revenge” remix that will come out at some point. The drummer from Orgy put it together and did the editing on that and did a great job with it. He is really good with that kind of thing. It is going to be really fun putting that one out too.

MUEN: One thing that the video and the performance and even the MySpace sites and websites all have in common is a HUGE investment in visual appeal. Is this part of the artist coming out in you?

Ryan: Oh, of course! To us there is no difference between the visual and the audio. We are totally interested in how this thing is packaged and completely unapologetic about it and creating an all-encompassing vibe. Absolutely.

MUEN: With this visual attention to detail in every form and branding so completely, who is the one that decides most about the visuals and how all is to be branded down to mic stands and synth boards and even wallpaper selections offered?

Ryan: Everything has a sort of a theme and is designed by us and a company called Polychrome which is our design firm that we use. Our friend Tom Dolan helps us to execute our visions. We gave him the parameters and he did a good job with us taking all of elements and then going back and forth quite a bit to get the right look for everything.

MUEN: Speaking of branding and design, it is hard not to notice the amazing collection of designed Jackson and Yamaha guitars by you Amir. Are you still actively designing new models for each company?

Amir: Um no. Unfortunately because of the economy they don’t really have the capacity to do that stuff anymore which is a shame. We have had the great fortune to have done that in a limited run. I don’t really mind as it will just make the ones I have worked on or designed become extremely collectible. I am finding that some of the ones I used in Rough Cutt are very valuable already. It will be my retirement fund.

MUEN: Now that your CD is finally coming out, what may your amazing large and LOYAL fan base expect from Julien-K next and in the years to come?

Ryan: What they can expect is us to work our asses off to continue to try to keep the extraordinarily high level of quality in our song writing and consistency and always carry an incredible look and totally together movement and project and really continue to keep our eyes on the ball. Always creating innovative killer music with an eye on authenticity.

MUEN: Speaking of fan base, how important has your Street Team called Systeme de Street been to spreading the word and keeping attention until the CD was ready for release?

Ryan: Hugely important! They’re everything right now! Those are the really special people to us. Hugely important!
Amir: We are actually really friendly with a lot of them. The girl that heads our street team has been with us since Orgy and she offered to just do this stuff for us a few years ago. We actually pay her now but in the beginning she did it all for free. She has proven herself ten times over with all the stuff she can do! She has rallied hundreds and hundreds in our street team and that is extremely helpful to us. It is amazing that they have stayed so loyal and together as long as we have made them wait for the CD. We never intended for that to happen but they have stuck through it all the way.

MUEN: How important has MySpace been or has there been another outlet that has “sold” the band to fans better?

Ryan: It is. It is a tool and an important part of it. It is not all but an important tool.

Amir: It is empowering! It’s totally cool and raises awareness. To be honest about it, we got the whole Transformers thing because of MySpace where otherwise we would not have been able to connect with the guys. These were guys that actually worked for me years ago in one of my bands and now they run this gaming division of a big gaming company and followed all along on MySpace. They basically heard what we did on the Transformer’s movie soundtrack and loved what we did with it. They decided to put their heads on the chopping block to do it (their gaming project). But we actually connected after all these years through MySpace. There are some pretty cool things that happen with artists that we like and admire and respect on there.

MUEN: Is there anything we have not talked about that you think our readers should know about either of you or the band?

Ryan: No. I think you have covered it.




MUEN: It was a lot of fun!




Ryan: Thank you!



MACAVITY
MUEN MAGAZINE