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Hello! This is the latest of a series of interviews that Synthpopalooza Radio will be doing with premier and unknown acts in the synthpop genre. These hopefully will be featured once a month. Prepare yourselves to be blown away by this month's featured artist ...



It is astounding the amazing amount and quality of material that filters into the modern synthpop scene from the unsigned artist, one who makes music on his own terms and often times out of his own basement. The following feature is on an artist who is probably one of the fastest rising stars in the synthpop scene these days.


 NukleoN is the alter-ego of Dan Burke, an electronic musician from southern California whose main hobby, in addition to graphic illustration, is producing old-style synthpop music inspired by the likes of Alphaville, Kraftwerk, Depeche Mode, Erasure, and many others who helped pioneer the genre. NukleoN is one of the modern breed of independent musicians, one who has built up his presence on mp3.com, a popular online indie music portal, into great proportions. Through hard work promoting his music across various portals across the internet synthpop universe, NukleoN has established himself firmly as a fixture within the current synthpop scene, despite not being signed to a record label.


Perhaps the best way to describe NukleoN music is, mechanism blended with emotion. The electronic textures and trimmings are part of the mix, and tend to evoke a futuristic setting, but it is Dan Burke's emotional and heartfelt lyrics and his expressive singing voice which gives his music emotion, much in the grand tradition of Andy Bell of Erasure. Perhaps it is this duality that is responsible for the existence of Dan's alter ego: A mechanical android which inhabits a Near Earth Orbit Satellite. If the NukleoN android is the embodiment of the mechanical side of NukleoN music, through all the hi-tech Vince Clarke sonic wizardry, then it is Dan himself, through his expressive and emotional vocalizing, which is the emotional heart of his music.




NukleoN has had quite a run of success as an artist on mp3.com. His most notable successes have been "Sometimes", a song which is on the surface bright and uptempo, but is really a song about profound sadness and loss, and which peaked at #5 on the mp3.com new wave charts in January 2001; "Reasons", which is perhaps the signature NukleoN track, the dichotomy of mechanical reason versus human emotion as it pertains to love; "Escort", NukleoN's first track to reach #1 on the mp3.com New Wave charts. His successes have partially spawned a series of collaborations with Intervox and Simulator, two other notable and highly successful unsigned synthpop artists on mp3.com. Most of these efforts culminated in the release of Near Earth Orbit, the debut NukleoN CD on mp3.com, containing selected tracks including two Intervox remixes of "Reasons". Another notable accomplishment for NukleoN was attained with the appearance of "Homewrecker" as track #10 on the Ninthwave Records Synthpop compilation "Electricity".








photo by roland oulette


NukleoN music utilises quite an impressive array of gear. The centerpiece of NukleoN's analog sound is the Access Virus B Virtual Analog Synth. This box is probably the most popular analog-inspired synth on the market today. Other key parts of the NukleoN studio include a Roland MKS-50 sound module, a Korg 01R/W Sound module, and an array of vocal and effects processors.





In the very near future, NukleoN will feature on a tribute CD being organised by Synthpopalooza Radio, to benefit the victims of the recent September 11th terrorist attacks in New York City and Washington, DC. The CD is entitled United Synthpop Artists: A Tribute to America and will feature tracks from at least 14 different artists from across the synthpop universe. NukleoN will be contributing a song entitled "Infidel". In addition to contributing music to this project, NukleoN is putting his excellent artistic design skills to use in designing the patriotic cover art for this project!









Synthpopalooza Radio recently interviewed NukleoN regarding his highly successful music project:


SYNTH: How old were you when you first became interested in music?

NUKLEON: I remember as a wee lad of 3 or 4, being interested in anything that made noise, namely, instruments. My earliest memories were of my Dad bringing home toy guitars, as I am sure he enjoyed seeing me do my toddler rock star routine. Unfortunately, this would lead to my eventually breaking it...perhaps that's why they were toy guitars? I also remember setting up coffee cans of varying sizes as my first primitive drum set. Somehow I forgave the bad sound and enjoyed it...I think the ground coffee might have served well for a snare...then my parents bought a piano, but they rarely played it. I was so glad for that tho, coz I got to play it everyday after school. My mom began learning to play, and I still remember learning her songs by ear and playing them for her.

I think the first song I made up on it was all black keys...the piano definitely excited my musical brain.


This interest in instruments never waned...I experimented with drums, learned basic guitar in junior high (I don't have the fingers for guitar), played the bongos (yes, the bongos) in my high school marching band and drooled over early Casio synthesizers at K-Mart, one of which I promptly put on lay-away. From my earliest days I always made music or beats just by singing, humming, clicking my teeth in an odd fashion, or human beat box style. I still remember trying to figure out how to get the best snare as a human beat box. I still do that today, and I think it freaks people out sometime (in public) since ya know, it's a little weird. :)


SYNTH: Who would you consider to be your greatest musical influence, and why?

NUKLEON: To be perfectly honest, I didn't buy a single vinyl record growing up...scratch that, I bought 'The Metro' 45 by Berlin and 'Sweet Dreams Are Made of This' by Eurythmics, a 45. That's it...that definitely influenced my direction...when I heard Eurythmics back then, it sent shivers down my spine, and I always knew I loved the sound of a synthesizer. Even more, I loved the idea that I could play all the parts and not have to form a band and annoy all my neighbors (who were already up in arms about my loud drumset!). My brother bought his first vinyl LP, Thomas Dolby's 'Golden Age of Wireless' and we would both listen to that incessantly..he had tons of New Wave that I overheard and grew to love...Echo and the Bunnymen, Shriekback (remember them?), Blancmange, Golden Earring, Flock of Seagulls and of course, we were KROQ fans back when synthpop and New Wave was everywhere. When I was about to buy my first CD, my brother convinced me to buy The Smiths instead of Depeche Mode, but I ended up being huge fans of both. I'd say my biggest musical influence from all this would be the whole early 80's New Wave/SynthPop movement combined with scattered influences that came later on such as The Smiths, Kraftwerk, Rammstein and Dance Music.


 SYNTH: What sort of equipment do you use to make your music?

NUKLEON: I still actually buy outboard gear! Hah...I know, in the age of soft-synths, that's pretty wacky. I use a simple controller, a Kurzweil SP-76 semi-weighted with an Access Virus B virtual analog synth, a Korg 01R/W module, MKS-50 (Roland Juno 106 module and very 80's sounding), some scattered FX. I have a pretty cool Mackie SR 24-4 mixer and a dual 1 gigahertz PC with lots of RAM running Cakewalk's Sonar under Windows 2000. (Hey it actually can make use of two processors finally!). I'm a big fan of soundfonts, the Creative technology, and I've been using custom soundfonts from the very talented Ian Wilson of Silicon 39. Just recently I discovered something called 'Acid Loops' and have been mighty impressed with them. They will come in handy as another asset I can use...it's like getting a sampler..and the drums are wicked. I use a Delta 1010 by M Audio to record everything right from the PC and I love it.
SYNTH: Your song "Anonymity" seems to be about online relationships. Have you ever been emotionally involved with someone online, and what inspired you to write this song?


NUKLEON: Yep...this song partially relates to my own experience, though I've made it more generic to fit a large audience. The thing is, you meet people online, and just by what they say, how they type, you can get to 'know' them in a true sense. In fact, it can be a beautiful thing, because not knowing them eliminates most stereotyping and prejudice...there are also bad sides to that, since we tend to see warning signs in person as well. Still, I have met some of the coolest, most gracious and talented individuals online that I can sincerely call 'friends', and it's a fascinating medium. What was once a small town is no longer limited, one can wander about the planet, digitally, making friends, learning, sharing, etc. Of course, I have friends in real life (in case you got worried) but the Internet can allow people with like minds to meet, even if they live next door. :) Anonymity does speak of online dating, which I've not done that much..but love interests definitely do happen online...there are those who've fallen in love with each other's minds long before they've seen each other. I find that fascinating.


 SYNTH: In the songs "Jane" and "Escort", references are made to a woman named Jane. Is there any special significance to the name, and are either of these songs based on somebody that you have known?

 NUKLEON: The song Jane does have a personal significance...there was a girl I lived with that this song speaks to..and I wrote the song after we broke up. I think it was my first difficult break up, where I had been 'left'. Quite a heart wrenching thing...and it definitely speaks of how I was feeling at that time. I used the name 'Jane' as a generic term for women, as in, 'Jane Doe'. I probably won't do that on every song where I speak of women. ;)


'Escort' is somewhat about prostitution, this time using Jane as a generic female term again tho it seems to speak of a person. This time, however, Jane Doe is referenced as a real possibility in the this dangerous profession. I am somewhat tolerant of what is unfairly called 'prostitution' between consenting adults, since so much of it happens for barter legally and is ironically, not frowned upon. I also find it strangely contradictory that women often recieve huge settlements from men who they never loved in the first place...(Anna Nicole Smith marrying that 90 year old billionaire?). Simply legal prostitution, and I think the agreement in the 'street' is more honest and less hurtful, except to taxpayers who have to support over zealous 'policing' of victimless 'crimes'.

The lyrics, 'Broken girl, who'll trade flesh for money, Debutantes, they'll give it up for free' illustrates the irony quite well I think. ;)


 SYNTH: What were the circumstances through which you came to collaborate with Simulator and Intervox?


Jeff Harper - Intervox
 NUKLEON: I've known Jeff via my online travels at Mp3.com..he was a presence here that I could not miss after searching through the genre that I intended to place music in. We had been friendly for a while...Ross of simulator and I started talking when he came to Mp3.com, I forget who contacted whom first.

I was impressed with his email sincerity and his music as well as Intervox...eventually it came up where I asked Ross to do a feature vocal...I picked 'Division'. I remember loving that instrumental, and wanting to sing to it...I wrote a vocal melody with lyrics, performed it, then sent it back to Ross and we both used it as a collaboration on our sites. Jeff then started working on a vocal feature for 'Realm' and I did a feature for it as well, my own version. Around this time, Jeff was remixing 'Reasons' and did stellar work, practically re-writing the music under the vocals. As it is, one of the remixes, the 'Cloud 9' mix, is only available on our CD's.


Just 3 musicians having fun...after this we all decided to try our hand at a 3 way collaboration called 'Simulogik'. Under this banner we did 'Undone' and 'Breathless' with myself on vox, as well as a version of 'Realm' with Jeff and I singing together. Simulogik still exists, but changes in Pay for Play, the new Premium Artist costs and time considerations simply got in the way...I think at some point we'll work again on it..but if we do it, I suspect we'd want it to be as a 'Premium Artist' which costs $20 a month. It's a bit hard to put all that effort into a 3 way collaboration when each of us had to start paying $20 a month just to keep our own artist names premium and earning Pay4Play...which is work in and of itself with promotion, making new songs, site maintenance, etc.

Ross Beall - Simulator


SYNTH: Your artwork on your website is very well done. Have you had any offers from other musicians to design artwork for their albums?

NUKLEON: Thanks! ;) I have done absolutely no advertising for artwork...well not true, I tried to help 303Infinity with some art in the distant hope of getting more hits hahaa. I designed a cover for Gorgeous Girl at Mp3.com, a cartoon depiction of her (and her dog) on a distant planet. I also designed her new logo..she's awesome to work with. We did everything through the net. Some other bands have inquired about artwork as well, but nothing has come of it yet...I designed the logo for Simulogik, and I whipped out some 3D for Bobby Clark too..hey that's you! :)



With my site, I want to make it go together, by unified and modular. As you can see, I am a fan of that Hercules monochrome monitor look that was popular (or the state of the art) in the 80's. I made a 'SynthPop Inside' logo from some 'Techno Inside' logo that I found, and I try to animate where possible to catch the eye (and keep bandwidth low). Heck I do 3D art by day so I might as well put it to use eh? :) If you visit www.NukleoN.com there is a whole art section which I keep updated, it is basically my online portfolio.



SYNTH: If you had a chance to collaborate with any musician (living or dead) which one would you choose, and why?

NUKLEON: I'd probably want to work with Marian Gold, singer for Alphaville. There are so many musicians I admire, but Marian's got that incredible voice, and it would sound gorgeous with some driving synthpop. Alphaville tends to be pretty experimental or jazzy, which I adore, mind you, but I'd love to hear something that sounds like early Depeche or Erasure with Marian going full tilt. ;) You can probably hear his influence in my own work, along with Martin Gore, Morrissey, David Gahan and others I admire...I think that's the beauty of hearing new bands..you see how different influences fuse together to create innovative new 'sounds', even in the same genre.


 SYNTH: Do you have any future plans in regards to another album, more collaborations, or live performances?

NUKLEON: Albums? Definitely! I have new music that is not on an album, so that will go on my next release when I enough to make it a 'good buy'. I try to keep my album prices low and content high ya know. As for live performances..I'd love to get into this, and might just be ready and willing at this point...I am investigating the possiblity of playing some local venues in the L.A. area, and I'd love to try SynthCon, but we'll have to see...I am working on that possibility. :) I would definitely have to do some trial runs and be sure everything is going to go smoothly.


SYNTH: Have you ever considered submitting your music to a record label like Synthphony or A Different Drum?

NUKLEON: I haven't tried that yet...I want to add a bit more polish as far as production quality..but that has tremendously improved as of late since I've been learning how to use my equipment to its potential. I did participate on a compilation put out by Ninthwave records, the 'Electricity-An ElectroPop Sampler' album. That was a great experience, and I'd love to do that again. Since I just relocated to L.A., things have been hectic, and I've been in a renewal stage here. I'm getting back on the music tho, I have three songs right now that are nearing completion and will appear on the NukleoN site soon. At some point I will do a 'best of' CD and send it to every indie label I can think of. :)


 And now, the final 10.

1. What would you consider to be the best motion picture ever made?

NUKLEON: I'd have to say Star Wars. There are so many, but Star Wars has the casting, the technology and attention to detail that made the world sit up and look, and it's a good story. Also, very influential for me as an artist.


 2. If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go?

NUKLEON: Having been to a few places in Europe, I'd say Japan! (Big in Japan) Man the things you can buy there..and they love technology which is everywhere...crazy mausoleum-style hotels, vending machines that vend everything you can think of practically and the coolest vehicles which are often disallowed in the states, especially California. ;) Plus, I could probably buy clothes that fit more easily heh. I don't think I'd be big in Japan, I'd probably fit right in. :)


 3. Do you keep any pets at home?

NUKLEON: Ha! I wish I had a kitten...love 'em...I try to pet the neighborhood cats whenever possible (I know that must sound weird)...there was a grumpy little cat that used to perch by my door (the neighbor's cat). She wouldn't let me pet her at first....just gave me hisses and glaring looks, but finally I made friends with her. Cats are so smart, agile and actually quite friendly once they know you...they're amazing creatures and pretty independent..I relate to them I guess.


 4. Which person in your life would you say has been your greatest inspiration?

NUKLEON: My bro and I inspire each other I think...we're 10 months apart and have always been a source of friendly competition..I think that has added a lot of fuel to the fire...plus we are each other's source of honest critique. It's not all competition tho, we hang out together and can just have fun being stoopit too. :) You should hear our rendition of the Flapper review that we do in a 1920's style heh. We never tire of reciting Marc Almond's line where after performing 'Tainted Love' to an appreciative crowd, he cheekily quipped, 'You thought you were never going to get it didn't you?'. It's how he says it that you just have to hear. Plus we could talk 'like robots' for the longest time or until someone calls security. :)


 5. What are some things in everyday life (situations, people) that annoy you the most?

NUKLEON: Oh boy...don't get me stahted haha. Stupid people, rudeness, bad and/or slow drivers (especially inattentive drivers), loud TV commercials, phone menu systems, telemarketers, religious programming (there is something so wrong about a woman with lilac hair sitting on a gilded chair begging for money and weeping all over her 7 layers of Loreal), 'Ergonomic' keyboards, ATM fees, crowds, cigarette smoke, speeding tickets. Perhaps I should do a rant site on Mp3.com? Oh believe me I've thought about it.


 6. Are there any social issues that you feel strongly about?

NUKLEON: Yes but I think I would have no fans if I told them all here ahhaaaa! No really..people often think I am pretty opinionated, but I am truly willing to listen to new ideas.

One of the reasons I did 'Escort' is that I think the fact that prostitution (trading cash for sex) is considered illegal and criminal when people excahnge sex for 'something' all the time. A guy buys a girl a hamburger and if sex ensues, later, that is ok, but give her the equivalent in cash, and it's prostitution? It seems so arbitrary, gray, and contextual. If anything, the cash makes it a more honest transaction. I don't see how going into a bar to find a one night stand is any different, other than the success ratio. :) I find it silly and agree with George Carlin who quipped, 'Why is it illegal to buy what is free to give away?'. I think cops could stop arresting prostitutes and their customers and go after real criminals like murderers, rapists, etc.

Same with the 'war' on drugs. It'll never be won...that and cigarettes are legal which kill more people than all 'illegal' drugs combined according to the American Lung Association. Most crime is already illegal (like stealing a TV to sell for crack) so I don't see why crack itself is considered a crime, when cigarette addiction is treated so differently. I'd suggest, treat all drug users like drug users, focus on education and rehab, and let's not spend so much money on cops who again, could be chasing real criminals. Notice that drug dealers don't sell cigarettes! This could be coz the illegality drives the price up, and naturally, criminals get in on the action. Same with Prohibition in the ealy 20's...that didn't work, why would keeping certain drugs 'illegal' be any different?

There's more, but I just as soon start a show on Public Radio or, perhaps an Mp3.com rant site under different name. :)


 7. What were the last three music CD's that you purchased?

NUKLEON: You mean downloaded?

Last three: 'Sensucht' by Rammstein, 'Man Machine' by Kraftwerk, 'Exciter' by Depeche Mode. All good, but Depeche Mode has definitely lost their edge. They've gotten a bit soft and I miss the exciting days when they were huge in the 80's and could move a dance floor.


 8. If you suddenly won the lottery tomorrow (in excess of 10 million dollars) what would be the first thing you'd spend it on?

NUKLEON: I'd definitely get a new motorcycle (I'm into sportbikes), pay off loans and bills, that sort of thing. I'd buy a house since apartment dwelling has definitely cramped my style with regard tp pumping out vocals at 3AM. I'd probably build a nice studio with some cool new synths and gear. I'd build in a vocal iso-booth in the house as well...I'd invest some and help family and friends out as well. Probably pay most of their bills off .:) I'd buy some fast computers and continue doing 3D, probably start doing 3D and music full time and make a production company out of everything. ;)

 9. What would you consider to be your favorite pastime or activity in the afternoon or on days that you do not have to work?

NUKLEON: Making music, laying down vocals! Also, I love making 3D movies...as you can see on my website, I am pretty evenly divided between the two. I work as a 3D artist for a living, so I tend to want to do more music in my spare time.


 10. What is your favourite food?

NUKLEON: Tough one...soup: Chinese Hot and Sour soup with Thai Tom Yum soup as a close second. Entreee: Probably Chinese or Thai...love that spicy curry chicken as well as well-made Schezwan Beef. To drink I favor ice-cold Pepsi. ;) I still remember drinking Pepsi with my Dad as a young kid, when you could still buy it in 1 liter, glass bottles. Maybe that had something to do with it. :)

That's all for this month. Many thanks to NukleoN for participating in this interview. To discover more about his music, go to http://www.nukleon.org. Until next month, keep on Synthpoppin' ...

NEXT MONTH: ELECTROSQUAD