Merv Pepler
Eat Static was formed in 1989 by Merv Pepler and Joie Hinton (both members of festival favourites Ozric Tentacles) as a creative outlet for the diverse electronic music the pair were writing. Always intended as a live act, Eat Static can legitimately claim to be one of the UK's first live techno outfits, cutting their teeth at many of the 'orbital' raves of the early 90's.
They released three singles and the cassette album 'Prepare Your Spirit' on their own Alien Records label, before signing to Planet Dog Records in 1993. 'Abduction' was Eat Static's first album for Planet Dog, closley followed by 'Implant' in 1994, which reached number 9 in the national album charts.
Now in their eighteetnth year together, Eat Static have recently completed their eleventh album, 'De-Classified', for the Japanese Solstice label. The unstoppable duo are currently planning an ambitious tour to coincide with the new release, taking in Scandinavia, Japan, Italy, Germany, Ireland, Croatia, the UK, Bulgaria and Israel.
We spoke to Merv on one of the rare occasions he had some free time!
How did you initially get into music?
I felt something special from music from when I was a small boy, and probably the earliest memories were seeing the old 60's spaghetti westerns with scores by Ennio Morricone...they made quite an impact, as did the weird and wacky sci-fi TV series from the early 70's, like Doctor Who. Seems I was destined to be working with bleeps and bloops!
What projects have you used Camel Audio software on?
I've just finished the new Eat Static album (De-Classified), which is due for a summer release and makes extensive use of all three products. We wanted to go back to exploring our roots, which is more the sci-fi analogue craziness. I've also been working with Steve Hillage on the new System 7 album. He knew about Camel Space, but I blew him away with Cameleon and CamelPhat! I also have a breakbeat project called Dendron which features all 3 products too...
What do you like most about Cameleon 5000?
I like building the long complex sounds up and layering different elements together. Sometimes I even re-sample things to play and trigger them in different ways. I do quite a lot of chilled ambient music too, so I love sounds that are still morphing and changing no matter how long you are holding notes for! I'm getting interesting results from importing my own sounds: crazy!
What do you like most about CamelSpace and CamelPhat?
Well, first and foremost, I like how extreme you can go with both of them. I'm into exploring really mad textures and they both do that so well. The 'Phat is great for those creamy distortions, but they always just stay in that controllable zone! The main thing that I love about both is the texture...they have a sheen and glossiness that sits so well in my music. I use both in conjunction with an Eventide Eclipse which brings incredible results!
Do you have any technical tricks or tips you can share with our users?
Most people I've seen using this stuff usually just have their sound; they find a preset that sounds OK and that's it - they don't go any further with it. I'm the opposite. I like to try loads out on a sound or sequence. I usually find something that's near the tone I like, then start messing about with the controllers, knobs and so on. I will then probably copy out at least 32 bars of the backing track, then ride the sound while recording all the automation. Then I go through that, pulling out any interesting bars, then do the same again with another sound. It can go on forever! But you always end up with something really unique, and that in itself opens up other possibilities you may not have even dreamed of!
