September 29, 2008
Interview with Experiment Haywire's Rachel Haywire
Rachel Haywire is the woman behind the industrial
noise project Experiment Haywire and the founder
and manager of the machineKUNT label. Earlier this
year Rachel released the Experiment Haywire album
Annihilation Chic, as well as the compilation
Extreme Women in the Dark Future through
machineKUNT, which featured artists such as
Compulsory Skin and previous They Fell Spotlight
Artist Aluminum Voyage.
You're involved in quite a bit: you're a musician, label manager, and even a published writer. What keeps you going?
RH- All the people who want me to quit. For every person who tries to run me off I work harder and harder. If so many people didn't have a problem with me I am sure I would have quit a long time ago. It's not like I'm supporting myself through any of this. I have a masochistic determination to get my ideas out there by any means necessary. Continuing to work in this industry doesn't make any logical sort of sense based on everything I've gone through. I don't know a single other person who wouldn't have
quit if they were in my position. Yet I have an intense passion to turn my visions into a reality. If I'm not going to do this who will?
Experiment Haywire started as an experimental noise project, and then switched into something more structured and rhythmic. Was that a controlled or spontaneous evolution?
RH- A little bit of both. I was starting to feel that experimental noise was too easy to make while simultaneously feeling a desire to subvert the dance floor. I wanted to cross the bridge between experimental noise and dark electronic to socially disturb the more avant-garde-than-thou people while giving the scenester club kids a run for their money. Somehow I have people from both camps who like what I'm doing though the majority of my fans are loners and outcasts who don't connect with either of these groups. The idea of Experiment Haywire was to create a new platform entirely. I needed the musical challenge of giving myself structure and rhythm. Being chaotic comes naturally to me and I felt that I wasn't pushing my own limits with my earlier material.
You're writing is featured in Disinformation's Generation Hex anthology. For those who haven't read it, what was your contribution?
RH- My contribution is a collection of my thoughts and ideas on chaos magick and the occult. I talk about being a transhumanist, street kid, and all around freak while referencing everyone from Robert Anton Wilson to Aleister Crowley. I did a free-flow exercise on the dark side of consciousness which got me a lot of shit from new age types who said that I was being too negative. They still don't realize how weak their minds are. If I could write the essay again I'd take out the parts on cyber-shamanism because they seem pretty ridiculous now. Since I'm no longer a street kid I look at the book with a weird sense of nostalgia. I've become a boring adult with responsibilities. Yet somehow my mission
of disturbing the peace and upsetting the herd have remained the same.
Your novel, Acidexia, is a autobiographical coming-of-age story. What prompted you to write it?
RH- Acidexia started out as a blog. When I was living on the streets I was in a very manic state and decided to write about every adventure I experienced after escaping the mental institution. I traveled from city and city and got into some of the most fucked up situations I could begin to imagine. My blog gained a huge following (lovers, haters, the usual) and people kept telling me that I needed to turn it into a book. I figured why the hell not and took the best parts of the blog to prepare them for publication. I'm still in the process of getting Acidexia in print. I existed as Acidexia before I became a musician and I'd like fans of Experiment Haywire to know about my past.
Why did you start machineKUNT, and where would you like to see it go?
RH- I started machineKUNT because I wanted to help promote female artists who were making this sort of music. Very few of us were getting any recognition because we weren't on certain record labels that had the right connections. I wanted to become a new connection. Right now machineKUNT is pretty underground but I'd like to see it evolve into more than a record label. I want all creative and independent women who are into the darker aspects of reality (whether they are musicians, artists, writers, photographers, or models) to become a part of this network. I want machineKUNT to become an entirely new subculture full of young and angry women who refuse to conform the standards of modern day society. Right now the main focus is music because there are so many talented new artists who need to be heard.
What are you looking for in machineKUNT musicians?
RH- Innovation. Originality. Something different in every artist. I don't want to limit anyone in what they create. I hate how labels sign 6 bands that sound exactly the same. I want all the artists on machinKUNT to bring something new and unique to the music world. It's important for them to
have an independent attitude as opposed to being generic clones of other artists. This is about creating new territory
You've said you're not thrilled about the current state of the industrial scene. Where do you think the problem is, and what can be done about it?
RH- I don't wanna blame it all on one group of people but I'd say the people who got kicked out of the punk scene for being boneheads and decided to hide in the corners or industrial are a huge part of it. For some reason people were apathetic enough to let this happen and we now have a subculture full of clueless idiots who have no idea about the original message. Throbbing Gristle was about social confrontation. They dissected fascism in an ironic way. Einstürzende Neubauten was inspired by dadaism. These bands were about performance art and audience interaction. They had a social and political message that was actually important. These days it's just a sausage fest full of jocks who lack anything to share except the names of their annoying friends. They do not like anyone who isn't
white and male unless those people act as white and male as possible. There's a lot that can be done about this but I don't think that taking a violent approach is the answer. We just need to represent the scene in a positive manner and show that not all of us are name dropping boneheads who spend our time reading Mein Kampf and trolling people on the internet. Lead by example.
Who is an inspiration in the scene today?
RH- yelworC. He started his own record label,
managed to get his music recognized by a lot of
people when it was about the occult as opposed to
dirty grrls and dirty bois, and continues to release
albums after all these years while performing live
shows. Babyland. They are fucking genius. Nobody
sounds like Babyland except for Babyland and you
will never forget their live performances. Emilie
Autumn. She created her own alternative reality,
turned it into a music project, and inspired thousands of young women to live in her world. Angelspit. They are the true definition of cyberpunk in a musical sense. Their music is highly enjoyable, their social commentary on the club scene is hilarious, and they are an all around fun band.
It's seemed that since its beginning, industrial music has been more accepting of women musicians than in many other genres. So why does there seem to be such a defecit of women in industrial music?
RH- In the beginning there were people like Cosey Fanni Tutti, Diamanda Galas, and even Lydia Lunch who kept the scene full of creative women... yet suddenly those bonehead types began to spread like the plague after the punk scene got sick of their bullshit. They started putting out messages about hitting women, made jokes about rape being cool, and thought that panzer tanks were somehow a ticket to musical success. This alienated more creative women than I can count. Why would women want to make music in a genre full of that sort of idiocy? The only girls that came out to the clubs were complete tools. Thankfully things are changing now. More women are starting to speak out, create their own projects, and bring forth a new evolution. When the riot grrl movement died out and a bunch of independent women were left with nowhere to go. Now they are starting to realize that they're welcome in the industrial scene. We are opening the doors for them that were once closed.
You've stayed away from the sex-saturated image that's so prevalent. Do you think women can project that image and still be taken seriously?
RH- For their music? Absolutely not. People may buy their music and jack off to it though. They can be taken seriously as business people.
What would you tell the women that think the only way to be successful is to project that image?
RH- Nothing. I'd rather not have them in my presence.
Do you think that the women who project that image ultimately hurt other women trying to make it in industrial music?
RH- Yes, and this is exactly what I'm changing. There are so many talented female industrial artists who do not have "the right look" and they never get picked up by the leading scene labels. I don't care what you look like. I care if you make good music. If you look at metal you see Otep. If you look at hardcore you see Walls of Jericho. Neither of these bands used sex appeal to sell records and they both managed to make it. There's no reason the same thing can't happen with industrial.
What advice would you give to the women out there wanting to break into electronic music?
RH- Just make it happen. Don't let anything stop you no matter how many people give you shit. Focus on the music. Things are changing now. This is our time to get heard.
What can we expect from Rachel Haywire next?
RH- My first remix album which is called "Remix Riot" should be coming out at the end of the year. It's an honor to have artists like Leather Strip, Ambassador 21, and Soman on there. A new Experiment Haywire full length called "Grrrl Interrupted" should be coming out in 2009. It's a very personal album that deals with everything from recurrent trauma to high functioning autism. I'm also focusing on other activities like directing plays and hosting events. A lot is going into machineKUNT. A lot is going into my daily existence.
