The All-Purpose Nuclear Bedtime Story 8-10 pm PST
Love Spirals Downwards are known as the darlings of Projekt Records. And with just cause; they are the best selling band, with the hottest moving new release of Projekt for 1998, “Flux.” This latest of 4 popular full-length albums marks a turning point in the band’s ever-fluxing sound. Whereas the last album, “Ever,” showcased several electronic-based songs in the mix, “Flux” concentrates almost completely on the electronica side of band mastermind, Ryan Lum’s musical influences. There has been some slight controversy over LSD’s “sound change” and band member relationships, but all of that seems ludicrous to the mellow, well-adjusted Lum. He’s always created the music for Love Spirals Downwards using whatever inspiration happened to hit him, be it a fine dining experience, an exotic vacation, a shamanic vision, or just simply a new piece of gear to fiddle around with. Although a philosopher at heart, searching for his own personal truth in life, Ryan isn’t a terribly serious artist with an attitude or an agenda. He just likes to make music for the fun of it.
Interview by DJs Anji Bee & Justin Jay. Intro written by Anji.
Anji: So this time around, we’re going to talk about the band, your new album, musical influences, and then just generally shoot the bull.
Justin: And we’re not going to mention fire tonight.
Ryan: Yeah. We won’t mention fire or stripping.
Anji: Or Goth clubs?
Ryan: Oh, anything, as long as there’s no fire or stripping. (Laughs) Last time, that’s all we talked about.
Anji: Yeah, that Coven 13 show seemed to make a really big impression on you.
Ryan: The one with the fire and the stripping? Or our show there?
Justin: Actually, that <your show> was really cool. You guys did the cover of that Fleetwood Mac song.
Ryan: Yeah, “Dreams.”
Anji: It was so good. I wish I had a recording of that.
Ryan: Cool. We were surprised it worked good. When we first started jamming it, experimenting, it was fun — funny fun. But then it was like, “Damn! This sounds good. Let’s play it tonight!“
Anji: Yeah? Suzanne was holding the lyric sheet on stage.
Ryan: I taped the lyrics to the floor. I wrote them out all big for her, but she didn’t want to do that. The thing that sucks is that she still has my CD liner notes! She didn’t give it back, so I don’t have the cover. Hopefully she hasn’t lost it. I still have my original vinyl from 1970-whatever. I was in 4th grade when I bought it. (Chuckles)
Justin: The other people that were playing with you that night; are they still in the band?
Ryan: We haven’t done any shows since, but hopefully so. Definitely one of them, Drew, who was our percussion player, is going to be working with us. That’s for sure. And hopefully Rodney; Rodney is a little bit more busy. We’ll see. Definitely me, Suzanne and Drew will be doing stuff. It’ll be kinda like what you saw last time; more stuff than before. We’ll have guitars, bass, and all kinds of electronic gear.
Anji: Drew has a nice voice.
Ryan: That’s right, he was singing with Suzanne on that Fleetwood Mac song.
Anji: Yeah, he was great. It was good stuff.
Justin: Well, we’ll talk to you about something other than Fleetwood Mac. (Laughs)
Anji: Didn’t you tell me some story about Fleetwood Mac and the other band that played after you at that show?
Ryan: Yeah, I think so. I forget. I was really drunk, so I can’t remember (Laughs) People couldn’t tell, but I was pretty toasted that night.
Justin: You were sitting down, so you didn’t have to wobble too much.
Ryan: Yeah, it’s easy to keep from falling when you’re sitting. I’d already had five or six beers before we went on. And then I had, like, three onstage. Afterwards, I went to the other bands dressing rooms and stole their beers, too. I figured, “If they’re not drinking them by now, then they’re not going to drink them!”
Anji: That sounds like drunken logic. (Laughs)
Ryan: That was a fun night. Friends that came back and hung out with us were surprised at how fun we are backstage. We’re crazy. People think that Projekt bands are — and for the most part, they’re probably right — kinda quiet and uptight or whatever. But not Love Spirals!
Justin: You’re kind of the black sheep of Projekt.
Ryan: Yeah, I guess so, on all levels. We have fun and laugh and joke around. Projekt bands aren’t known for that.
Anji: That’s why I gravitated towards you guys at the Projekt party. You were sitting at the table having fun, so I was like, “I’m going to walk up and introduce myself!“
Ryan: That one at the little apartment in Los Angeles? Gee, we were pretty mellow that night, too. You should have gone to the Projekt barbecues. I think at that first one I had had a Mickey’s 40 ouncer. That is always a crowd stopper. If you’re holding a Mickey’s 40, people are, like, “Woah! You’re serious about drinkin’ here.”
Anji: Mickey’s is good, though.
Ryan: Oh yeah. It gets the job done.
Anji: I used to be into those, but it’s all about wine now. So, back to Love Spirals Downwards, what are you working on now?
Ryan: I’m working on getting live stuff together for us to do some shows. Not sure where or when yet, buty ou can check our web site for updates on that. I personally update our news, so there’s no rumors – everything is confirmed, absolute and will happen.
Anji: Playing live is not a usual occurrence for LSD.
Ryan: No, we usually play only a few shows a year. I don’t know what happened last year; we only played one — the one you guys went to– the Projekt Fest in Los Angeles, at the El Rey. That’s why I always tell people not to flake out on us; ’cause you don’t know when, or even if, we will play next.
Anji: It’s always difficult to take such a studio based project to the stage.
Ryan: Yeah. The way we work is kinda backwards. Most bands typically have a song first, then they go into the studio and record it. We’re the total opposite of that. We have no song first. I just start messing around in my studio, coming up with ideas, and at the end of a long process, finally, a song emerges. So, it’s kinda weird. We don’t rehearse ever, a song just gets created, almost through chance accident and goofing around.
Anji: It’s mostly just you, isn’t it?
Ryan: Yeah, pretty much. Yeah.
Anji: You’re the man!
Ryan: I am. (Laughs) I put a lot of work into it. Yeah. It takes me a long time to make a record.
Justin: How many of the songs that you create end up on the albums?
Ryan: Most all. I was telling you earlier that I had a few songs that I tossed away this time (during the creation of Flux). I think that was just because there was a bigger sound change. There were some songs that just didn’t quite click. I think all the songs I tossed were early ones. Right now I’m in that same process again; starting a new album and not wanting to make the same album again. So I’m going all over the place. I mean, it’s still gonna be an electronic record, I’m not going back to all acoustic again, but it’s not gonna be a drum ‘n’ bass record, like Flux was.
Anji: It’s not?!
Ryan: Nah. I mean, there might be some of that, but Flux, in my mind, is a drum ‘n’ bass record. Six of the nine songs have drum’n’ bass stuff going on, so it makes it that.
Anji: So what are you working with now?
Ryan: I don’t know yet. We’ll have to see. I have a couple things, nothing’s finished yet. Actually, I completed a song that seems like it might be for a side project. I thought it was going to be a Love Spirals thing, but I go, “OK. No. This is just way too off base.”
Anji: How so? Tell us about it.
Ryan: Well, it’s got some of my jazz buddies doing stuff on top of, like, more hard core drum ‘n’ bass. A little harder, not insanely hard, but a little more than our album, Flux, is. And there’s some really nicely played funky, bluesy, jazz sort-of Rhodes keyboards and saxophone. I don’t think there’s going to be any vocals either, so… It’ll probably end up being a side project for all of us. All three of us do other bands, so it would be something we do for fun. It’ll probably be just a 12″ only thing, assuming someone wants to put it out. We haven’t even gotten that far yet, but I don’t think we’re gonna go for making albums and all that.
Anji: Well, that could drain a lot of energy away from your main project.
Ryan: Yeah, that takes up enough time. I wasn’t intending to start a second band. Love Spirals takes up so much time as it is.
Anji: I guess we’ll just have to be surprised with the next sound morphing.
Ryan: Yeah, I’ll be surprised too. I can’t wait to get it going! I mean, Flux, I was probably working on maybe a year before the idea solidified and I saw what the end result was gonna be. I was just kinda trying different things. And then usually, hopefully, I have this moment of illumination where everything just clicks together, like, “Aha! That’s it!” I’m a firm believer of always trying different things, trying to push myself, not falling back into what I did before — even if it was successful. I get bored, and I feel as if I’ve cheated myself, too, if I don’t push myself to do something new.
Anji: Are you still going to work with guitar?
Ryan: Yeah. Uh huh. Probably just because it’s so available. I just reach out and grab a guitar off the floor and start playin’ it, and record some tracks with it.
Anji: Do you have a lot of guitars?
Ryan: Nah, I don’t have a collection or anything. I have like, four or five, or something.
Anji: Oh, is that all?! (Laughs) Do you have a lot of gear, in general?
Ryan: That depends on what you consider to be “a lot.” It’s not crazy — you don’t walk into my studio and go, “Wow, this guy is nuts!” or anything. It’s very compact and efficient. But I’ve been buying stuff, and recording , since — gosh — over a decade.
Anji: I never even thought to ask you if you had a band before Love Spirals Downwards.
Ryan: Not really. Just goofin’ off stuff. Love Spirals wasn’t even really supposed to be a band. It just kinda happened.
Anji: That’s funny. You seem to believe in just letting life happen to you.
Ryan: No, not necessarily. I just never had these aspirations to “make it,” or be a musician and all that stuff. I make music because I love doing it.
Anji: That’s the reason to do it.
Ryan: Yeah, and I always have to remind myself to keep that in mind. It’s so easy to get locked into, “OK. Let’s make an album, let’s make an album…” That’s what I like to do after an album is done, just relax and get back into making music just ’cause it’s fun. And that’s how I started this side band, whatever you wanna call it.
Anji: Yeah, just ’cause you were goofing off and having fun?
Ryan: Well, it was gonna be –I thought it would be– a Love Spirals song. That’s what I was aiming for. I just like to make music like most people make music; you just make stuff. You don’t think, “OK, it’s going to be on this album, it’s going to be song four, it’s going to...” — ya know? I just wanted to make a song, just make music, and worry about what to call it –what band it’s going to be and so on– afterwards.
Anji: That’s cool. What is your studio like, anyway?
Ryan: What is it like? (Laughs) How technical can I get on a radio show like this? (Laughs)
Anji: Oh come on! Do you have an ADAT or what do you use?
Ryan: Right now how it is? ‘Cause it’s always different, always changing. It’s totally different now than how it was when I made Flux.
Anji: Wow! Is it in your house, or your apartment or whatever?
Ryan: Yeah, it’s at my place. It takes over a whole room there. Right now it’s tapeless; I’m doing it all off hard drive, digital audio.
Anji: I think a lot of people are going that way.
Ryan: Yeah. The kind of music I make; it’s great for that, too. ‘Cause I’m always cutting and pasting stuff all over the place. I rarely ever lay down, like, four minutes of an instrument –like, lay down a drum track. I usually just put down a little bit and move it all around. It works good for me.
Anji: Do you like to work in the night or the day?
Ryan: I usually work in the day. I like to get up about 11 or so, have some breakfast, spend maybe a couple hours doing bureaucratic type things — like e-mailing people, calling people, I like to take care of that in the morning, then I get started about 1 or so, and then go to 6 or so.
Anji: Sounds pretty leisurely!
Ryan: It’s really intense when I’m working, though.
Anji: I was just wondering if the change in your creative process and output is due to a changing interest in the music you listen to, or the clubs you go to?
Ryan: I think the biggest reason why I change my sound all the time is because I’m always changing as a person. I mean, I’m a very different person now than I was even at the beginning of this year, and I’m a very different person than I was a year or two ago. The change between the albums is a reflection of the change in me, or Suzanne and myself, over that time. I don’t know if everyone changes like that or not, but we sure do, and I sure do. I don’t listen to the same stuff forever. I always buy new records, and I’m always going out and doing different things. The music is just a reflection of that. A lot of bands on our label don’t change ever; one album could be just like the one before it, and the one before that. I just wonder why anyone would want to buy this new album when it sounds just like the old one?
Anji: Because then they’re guaranteed that they will like it.
Ryan: I guess so.
Anji: Come on; people that go to Goth clubs want to hear the same songs from 10 and 15 years ago every week!
Ryan: Oh yeah, tell me about it. That kinda sucks, too, because I’ve been deejaying and Goth clubs have been scared to have me. They say, “Well, if you don’t play the records that everyone is used to hearing, they’ll leave.” It’s like, “What kind of club is that? I can’t play anything new? I have to play stuff that’s like 10 years old that the DJ plays every week?” I can’t come and play my own stuff. I have to play the songs that they he woulda played anyway.
Anji: Isn’t that sad?
Ryan: I’m not bagging on Gothic music, but Gothic clubs that subscribe to that philosophy, it’s just… it just shows you that it’s dead. Not “Gothic is Dead,” but “Gothic Dance Music is Dead.” They play the same 50 records. One of my friends came out with me to a Gothic club. He used to be a Goth DJ in the ’80’s and he’s going, “God! I could bring my same records — I haven’t bought anything new in 10 years — and I could fit in. I could play a set here.” You can’t do that at any other club. DJs are always buying records — it’s an investment. I’m buying new stuff. I’m blowing a lot of money on vinyl now, too. It just says something… Electronic clubs have been a lot more open to having me DJ, which is kinda interesting, because I’m less known in those circles than I am in Gothic circles. A Gothic club can put my name and “Love Spirals Downwards” on a flyer and it will attract a lot of people, but at Electronic clubs, they’re like, “Who’s Love Spirals Downwards?” But they see us around, they know we’re out and about, they know we have a following and stuff, and they’re been much more open. If I spun at a Gothic club, I wouldn’t be spinning all drum ‘n’ bass, I’d bring a lot of my old stuff.
Anji: Cool. Well, we’ve talked about just about everything I can think of.
Ryan: I thought you were going to dig all the dirt out, you said?
Anji: Indeed. We were talking about Goth girls on the phone; do Goth chicks like you?
Ryan: I don’t know. Do they?
Anji: You are very post-post-Goth, I would say. Were you ever Goth-Goth? As in ruffles and stuff?
Ryan: I never wore all the, like, dresses and, um, swords and fangs.
Anji: Oh no! Contact lenses…
Ryan: Yeah, the contact lenses that make their eyeballs bulge out. No. I would go to clubs of that sort before they were called that, in the ’80’s, and it wasn’t as crazy back then. People weren’t into vampirism and all that stuff. It was more of a music thing; it wasn’t a life style, it was just about music. I looked different back then. I mean, my hair was freakier and I had some make-up.
Anji: No way!
Ryan: Yeah.
Anji: So what clubs do you go to now?
Ryan: A lot of the people I know in Los Angeles throw stuff. The only big one I can think of is Dune, which happens once a year, out in the desert. And then every year, at Super Bowl time, they rent out a bowling alley and bring all their sound gear, and light gear and blast music. They get really drunk and bowl. It’s all free. I bowl like, 30 games. My arm is sore for a week afterwards. I actually go to small, hard to know about stuff. The last cool one was up on a mountain top a couple months ago. There was about 80 – 90 people dancing ’til the sun came up. Very, very spiritual. It was the same for me with Dune, even though that was 4 or 5 thousand people. One of those things where you’re dancing and it starts getting brighter…
Anji: You dance?
Ryan: Yeah, oh hell yeah. I have to be in the right mood, but yeah. I’m into trance or drum ‘n’ bass. When I get going I dance for three or four hours — I don’t stop. I love dancin’. I’ve been dancin’ since acid house in ’89. I’d dance for hours. It’s a very spiritual activity, I gotta tell ‘ya! I love it, but I don’t get to do it that much because it’s hard to get me in the right mood.
Visit the Love Spirals Downwards official website for more info.
