NURVIS: Synthpopalooza Featured ARTIST OF THE MONTH

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. We hope to feature these once a month. This month, a duo straight from the underground are the Featured Artist of the Month!

In the modern electronic pop scene, there are a number of bands who do their work away from the public spotlight, in their own studios, and on their own terms. It can arguably be said that the NURVIS duo fall into this category, without a doubt. This act hails from El Segundo, California, which is in itself not far from the main hotbed of activity in the modern synthpop scene in the USA.

The NURVIS name is actually a combination of the surnames of the two main contributors: Paul Nurminen, who does all the keyboard and electronic programming work; and Susan Orvis, who supplies the very emotive and often-times dark vocal stylings.

The sound of NURVIS is unique in the modern scene. Paul's biggest influence sonically is the electronic musical experimentation of bands like New Order and Depeche Mode. For many years, Paul has done a lot of work as a club DJ, as well as electronic and ambient instrumental compositions under the pseudonym of Varactor Ratio. The NURVIS partnership came about after Paul placed an ad seeking a vocal collaborator, and Susan responded.

While Paul's influences are from the electronic and alternative end of the spectrum, Susan's influences are probably rooted more in classical, opera, and mainstream pop music. Susan has had many years of vocal training, and her vocal stylings very much recall other talented female vocalists such as Madonna, Kate Bush, and even female country vocalists such as Reba McEntire, thus providing a unique musical formula not often heard in the scene.

All NURVIS material is recorded at Red Light 6 studio. From its modest beginnings, Red Light 6 has itself grown into a versatile recording facility, boasting a vocal booth and an impressive array of equipment. Perhaps the most unique piece of equipment is the Atari Falcon 030 computer, which has a built in MIDI interface. This computer, which was very popular in the late 80's and early 90's with MIDI musicians, handles most of the sequencing and recording tasks in the studio.

The NURVIS sound can best be described as a combination of rhythmic electronic music, with emotive female vocals. Lyrically the songs tend towards the dark side of the spectrum. While NURVIS does have its light moments, with the doo-wop flavoured Warm Eyes or the Erasure-influenced Out of Hand, there is a lot of brooding subject matter in the NURVIS catalog as well. Of particular note are Missing, a song with veiled references to child abuse; I'm Sorry, which touches on losing trust in someone after hearing too many apologies; A Certain Look, which is a song about betrayal; and the lyrically explicit and controversial Squish, Squish, a verbally laced diatribe against a monster of an ex-boyfriend. Raw emotion is the hallmark of the NURVIS sound, and Susan's emotive vocals deliver on all levels.

To date, NURVIS have released only the CD Un-Subferior, available both on mp3.com and through the band's own label, MixElektro Records. This underground record label is actually a partnership between Paul, and fellow electronic musician Kevin Murray, who has also released music on this label under the alter-ego of Ceaven. In addition to NURVIS and Ceaven, MixElektro Records has also acted as a vehicle for the release of Paul's early instrumental work under the name of Varactor Ratio.

The following interview provides insights into the band's music and personality, and is also available as an audio mp3 file.

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO AN AUDIO OF THIS INTERVIEW

SYNTH: How did you first get into music?

SUSAN: Ok, I was watching the Mike Douglas Show, I think... and um Andrea McArdle was on it, and she was the first "Annie" on Broadway, and I loved her voice, and I wanted to be her, so I started trying to sing like her. So that's probably how I got into it.

PAUL: Oh, with me, I'm trying to think, probably like 1970s, top 40 radio, buying little "45s", and then from there, gradually I got into... really in a big way into like Led Zeppelin and stuff. But that was probably the beginning of the... the interest. Some of the early "45s" of '70s top 40 stuff... late '70s.

SYNTH: What are some of your musical influences?

PAUL: Well obviously, for me, it's pretty easy, like I said, Led Zeppelin was early, and then I listened to Queen and stuff back then too. But then, what really got me into it was the '80s, Euro-, you know, dance kind of stuff; Depeche Mode, New Order, um, who else... Yaz, Alison Moyet. Those kinds of '80s bands like that...

SUSAN: Well Paul's a little bit synthpop, and I'm a little bit rock and roll, perhaps. I like, um, well of course I told you Andrea McArdle was my Broadway influence, but then, I love Linda Ronstadt - her rock and roll years. And, I love Maria Mckee from Lone Justice, and I love Trisha Yearwood. So, I love really strong female vocalists. I love male vocalists too, but basically, any strong vocalist usually... I'll be a fan of theirs.

SYNTH: What is the process that goes into recording a NURVIS song?

SUSAN: It's really easy, actually, you just press a button and the song goes BING!

PAUL: Right, that's the miracle of electronic music. You just press the "Write Hit Song" button and you're done!

SUSAN: Seriously...

PAUL: It always starts with music. I usually write the music first, and give it to Susan, and if she likes it, and can come up with ideas, she'll... at her house... Well, you go ahead, you can answer that one.

SUSAN: Yeah, I pull out the old karaoke machine, and sing along to it, and hopefully, make magic!

PAUL: And then she brings the magic back, and I pick out the most magic bits, and we kind of rework it maybe, or sometimes it's dead-on right away, like with "Out Of Hand". But, as far as recording, from there, we'll just set up in this little studio here, and you know, try to start with doing the basic stuff like the verses and maybe the choruses, and then, as we hear that, Susan is usually inspired to do backup parts, or harmonies, depending on the song. You know, the basics, we have written down, and the rest of it, we kind of do as we go along, I guess.

SYNTH: I've noticed a lot of your songs, especially "Squish Squish" and "Missing", are about unpleasant or traumatic experiences. Were these songs written from actual experience?

PAUL: Well, I didn't write the lyrics, as you know, but I know that "Squish-Squish" was from a very bad personal experience. And "Missing" was... people may thing it was, but I don't know, that one's sort of... ambiguous. I'll let Susan elaborate.

SUSAN: Well, the music inspired, it just sounded to me, like a haunted house kind of music thing going on, so... I just was inspired to do all that "oooooooohh" stuff. That's just my twisted brain... thing. Yeah, but ah, "Squish-Squish" - an oldie but goodie; that's definitely based on a "monster" that unfortunately, I came upon, and didn't run, screaming the other way!

PAUL: And, I don't know if our other songs... I know you didn't mention other ones Bobby, but "A Certain Look" is also about a different ass hole. Not as much of an ass hole as [the guy in] "Squish-Squish" in Susan's life, but, somebody that kind of hurt her - so that was ah...

And, I'm just trying to think. "I'm Sorry" was one of the few songs that I contributed lyrics, wrote lyrics for, but it was kind of fictional. Musically, that was actually inspired by an idea. It was inspired by an incident when we were first working together. We were going to record "A Certain Look", and I was kind of... I think I criticized you, Susan, about the structure, because you were kind of all over the place at the time.

That's when we were first starting, and I think she got upset about that. And I was upset, so I ended up writing music. The lyrics don't refer to that event, but, they're, I don't know, they're just kind of fictional.

SYNTH: I've noticed that "Warm Eyes" is a bright, upbeat tune, which is unique on the Un-Subferior album. How did this song come about?

PAUL: Yes, I originally wrote that song in 1987 - it was either '88 or '87, on a Casio SK-200 portable keyboard. And, my sister wrote the lyrics, and she sang the original version, which I still have. It was done on a 4-track. And when Susan and I first met, I thought it would be easier to start off with a cover song, or a song that existed already, and we could see how it sounded with her doing it. So, I re-did the music, on the more modern equipment, and then, she took it from there; following the basic guidelines of the original lyrics, but adding her own stuff, right?

SUSAN: Yeah, a little bit - the bridge, and a little bit at the end. So I did contribute a little bit to it, but it is mainly Paul's song and his sister's song.

SYNTH: What equipment is used in the Red Light 6 Studio?

PAUL: Well, basically, the computer would be an Atari Falcon, which is accelerated with the Nemesis accelerator, that speeds up the CPU and the DSP chip. I use that for all my MIDI and digital audio, running Steinberg's Cubase Audio. And for sound sources, I've got two Roland JV-880s - one of them has the "Techno" expansion board, the other one has the "Vintage Synth" expansion board. And there are two Roland D-110s, which are older Roland modules, but you can get some really interesting sounds out of there - particularly bass sounds. You'll find in a lot of the NURVIS stuff... a lot of the bass sounds actually come from the Roland D-110s. And a BOSS DR-660 drum machine, as well as an Alesis HR-16 drum machine, which I don't use as frequently these days. I've also recently gotten a BOSS SP-505 sampler - it's a phrase sampler. I'm incorporating that slowly into the new material, using it for drum sounds mostly at this point. It's got some good effects though. And I've also got an Ensoniq EPS, which is my main keyboard. I use that with some sounds, but for the most part, I just use it as a controller.

And the rest of the gear? Effects processors - Alesis Microverb III, Alesis Quadraverb+, Zoom 1201 multi-effects, Alesis 3630 compressor/gate, DBX 266 compressor/gate, a BBE Sonic Maximizer, ProCo patch bay, Ensoniq KMX-16 MIDI patch bay, a Behringer MX2642 mixer, and a few other miscellaneous ins and outs and a couple of portable keyboards - Casio, Yamaha... That's pretty much the setup.

SYNTH: How did you come about using an Atari computer in your studio as opposed to a more conventional PC setup?

PAUL: Well, I kind of grew up with Atari computers in the early, mid-eighties. I had an Atari 800XL, and used that for a few years. And when I started getting into doing my own music around late '87 or early '88, I actually didn't use a computer at all. I used, initially, portable keyboards with a 4-track. And when I got my Ensoniq EPS, I used the sequencer in there. But I started feeling limited by that, so I wanted to get another computer, and talking to musicians and friends, they kind of recommended the Atari ST. This was around 1989 I guess, so Atari was still active in the computer market, and the MIDI market in particular. And I chose the ST because it was... it had everything I needed; it had built in MIDI, it was very rock solid with timing, with Cubase, and other sequencers, like Notator, and Hybrid Arts stuff. And then after the ST, I moved up to the Atari Falcon - mainly because I found one at a closeout price at a music store called Guitar Center. This was about the time Atari was phasing out their computer line, and all the retailers that carried them were trying to liquidate the inventory. So, I got it at a great price, and it allowed me to use Cubase Audio, which was the next step above Cubase in Steinberg's software line, which allowed the Falcon not only to do MIDI, but also to do digital audio.

And that was a nice improvement for me, because prior to that I was using the ST, synchronized via time code to a 4-track; the 4-track would handle the vocals, and stuff like that. So, the Falcon really made that a lot easier [with] Cubase Audio. As far as why I continue to use that today? I do have a PC, and I am building a second PC to augment the Falcon in the studio, but I just like the MIDI timing, I'm extremely comfortable and familiar with the Cubase environment on the Atari. And it just does what I need it to do, basically.

SYNTH: How did MixElektro records come about, and do you have any plans for signing future artists?

PAUL: MixElektro Records is sort of a... label that my friend Kevin Murray (or "Ceaven"), and I created to release our own stuff. It's not really a label per se; it's just a name, and a web site that's very miniscule at the moment. Eventually maybe...

We're probably going to, maybe in the future, do a real actual business. Kevin's got the business head; he knows more about that aspect of it than me. I mean, aside from getting the domain name for the web site, that's about all we've done. But, we may eventually make it a real label, and try to get other people on there. We've had people ask about it, but I've had to turn them away, saying that it's not really a label... YET!

SYNTH: Could you elaborate on your recent experiences at Synthcon?

PAUL: Wonderful. Susan didn't go. As we know, she's not a hard core synthpop fan. As far as me, I don't know, I went with Kevin, and we met a lot of cool people, and saw bands that I'd never heard of.

SYNTH: Have you listened to any artists in the modern synthpop scene, and who are your favorites?

PAUL: Yeah, I've listened to quite a few. I'm getting into more. There's a band called Seabound that I think is rather good, they're sort of darker, maybe a little EBM. I've seen recently, Monolithic and Ganymede, and certainly Nukleon (Dan Burke). And your stuff Bobby, your instrumental stuff. Besides those bands, I would also say Fr/Action, which is a band fronted by David Friede of Ganymede. And Blind Before Dawn; English band fronted by Davi Lovatt - they’re both very good. And certainly there are a few more I can’t think of at the moment, but visit mp3.com and you’ll run into quite a few of the really good bands on there.

SYNTH: What are your plans regarding touring, future albums, or compilations?

PAUL: I’m trying to get a gig at the place that Synthcon played, and Dan’s playing, and Ganymede played - the Hully Gully, or maybe another place called Satellite - another place in LA. But, it wouldn’t take that much to put together a show. We just want to finish some new songs, and then maybe, we’re going to give it a try. Somewhere local.

As for compilations, we’ve been asked to be on one a while back for Plastiq Music, the Unheard Artists Compilation series, for "Out Of Hand". And, we were on another thing for Spider Bite Studios, which is an mp3.com based thing, they put out compilations of different genres, and "Missing" was on there for a darkwave compilation. And that’s all I’m aware of now. And as far as albums, we’re working on our second one now, and we’ve got one song done, and one that we pretty much finished recording today, "Plastic". And we’re going to mix it, and we’ll move on to the next song, and your song, and go from there.

And next, the final 10 catch-all:

1. Which person in your life would you say has been of greatest inspiration to you?

SUSAN: I can answer this for both of us, and of course, it's Eartha Kitt! Anyone with an ounce of reason knows that Eartha Kitt is the person that really brings meaning to everyone's life.

PAUL: Ah... not really! Well, one person? I don't know that I really have any like "heroes", or something like that. Maybe, as far as music goes, maybe it was, besides bands and stuff, it might have been that one of my best friends got killed, and it kind of got me to stop... I was deejaying, and then I kind of got out of deejaying, and got into writing music, feeling like I wanted to express myself musically - mostly out of sadness at the time, but... his name was Jim Johnson by the way. But, I can't think of any other things, really, so we'll move to the next...

SUSAN: And I'll just reiterate, Andrea McArdle [of the show] "Annie". The Broadway girl, I love her!

2. Have any family members or friends heard your music?

SUSAN: No! They hear lot's of rumblings going on in the basement, and they've been calling the authorities. They see a light on late at night, and they think they hear something peculiar, but I just say "Get The Hell Out!".

PAUL: Yes! Exactly what she said. No, of course my... I don't subject them to it if they don't want to hear it. My Mom likes my stuff of course. Moms like stuff. Most of my friends at least say they like it, so... And my friends that aren't into electronic music, no, I generally don't expose them to it much.

SUSAN: Yeah, my snotty friends that are rockers, they're like "ehh!". They don't like the electronic music. But even though I like rock, and lot's of different kinds of music, I do like electronic, so I'm proud of it, even if the pooheads don't like it. But, yeah, friends and... most friends and family have been very supportive.

3. What would you say was the single best experience of your life?

SUSAN: Oh, here we go! What was the single best experience of our lives? Probably that Eartha Kitt concert!

PAUL: I think I'd have to agree!

4. If NURVIS became a household name overnight, and you became millionaires, what is the first thing you would do with the money?

PAUL: Um, probably buy a house ... and then build a really fantastic recording studio.

SUSAN: Yeah, I mean, if I won money, I'd be a sap and share it with my friends and family. That's why I'll probably never win, because I wanna give my money away ...

5. Where is your favorite place to go on a vacation?

PAUL: I would say, I recently went to Yosemite and that was very beautiful, and I would go back there. And I've been to Hawaii, which was cool, but... I don't know, maybe...? I haven't been there yet.

SUSAN: A quiet rubber room, with some dim lighting might be good for me. A well placed straight jacket perhaps! That might be nice. Ok, maybe Vegas, but it's very evil because I've helped build some of those dirty, nasty resort areas.

6. If you could pick any decade to revisit, which one would you choose?

SUSAN: Um, I think they're all pretty bad. I don't know that I'd really want to go to any of these crappy decades, but...

PAUL: Go back to the '80s, and ah... write music that was ahead of everybody else, because I knew what it was going to be, and then, you know...

SUSAN: Maybe we need to go to the '70s then, [so the people would say] "what's this crap!?" But you know, this question... have we learned nothing from McFly [of the movie, "Back To The Future"]? You know, you go back in time, and you totally screw everything up - you start marrying your Mom, and your sister's got three heads. So I don't know if it's a good idea. I think I'm going to put that time machine back in the basement.

7. What was the most embarassing moment you have ever had?

SUSAN: Again, a difficult question, because we all have so many embarrassments. Um, I would say, when I had toilet paper on my shoe when I left a restaurant, which I know that's kind of dumb, "oh, you just had toilet paper on your shoe", but it was embarrassing! And, I was young, and it was kind of traumatic, so I always check my shoes before I leave the bathroom to make sure I'm not trailing toilet paper.

PAUL: I'll have to think about that one. Maybe I'll give you an answer later. Right now I can't think of any specific times of being horribly embarrassed.

8. What was the last CD you purchased?

SUSAN: Ok, now Napster came on what year? Actually, I did buy a couple CDs about... 8 months or 9 months ago - some Trisha Yearwood CDs, because I saw her concert in September, and I love her!

PAUL: Cds that I've bought recently? Um... would be, when I went to see Ganymede and Monolithic, I bought one each of their CDs. And, that's all I can think of at the moment.

9. If you could perform live with any famous musican or band (alive or dead) who would you choose and why?

SUSAN: I guess I gotta say... probably The Beatles, because, you know I forgot, when you were talking about influences, I was talking about Andrea McArdle, but I love the Beetles!. And, I think they're great, and so, I would probably like to hang out with those...

PAUL: Well, it would probably be... they'd both be alive... at least, as of today... it would be, Vince Clarke maybe? But no, because he'd be doing all the music, and then I would be doing it, and we'd be fighting with each other. So, maybe Alison Moyet, or Bernard Sumner from New Order. That would be good.

10. Last one, guys. Where is your favorite place to eat when you go out on a date?

SUSAN: Yeah, I'm very fussy. We give a place a chance, and then it gets on the bad list. So there's the usual suspects we always go to ... "Lomeli's" in Gardena, and of course, "Marie Calendars". I used to work there - that's how sick I am, and I still like to eat their food.

PAUL: Yeah, we go there. We used to go to a place in Hermosa Beach, California called "Mama's"; another Italian place. But they started adding too much salt to their stuff, so...

That's all for this month. Be sure to pay a visit to the NURVIS website at www.nurmix.com for more information. And until next time ... keep on synthpoppin'!

NEXT MONTH: EMPIRE STATE HUMAN