Melissa Lane

The most apt description of the man behind some of the last two decades' most influentially dark and brooding acid and techno came from Karl Meier of Meiotic Productions: "He's really what you would call a country gentleman."

The man he's describing, Woody McBride, aka DJ ESP, has long assumed an elder statesman position in the history and evolution of electronic culture in the Midwest. Throwing some of the first and by far most legendary warehouse parties in Minneapolis in the early nineties, he initiated untold numbers of virgin ears into the realm of wordless techno by way of his notorious "wall of bass"--a speaker stack stretching 150 feet long, 20 feet high, and able to project a million watts of music.

But his music career started even earlier than that, in the late eighties, and is marked by such seminal singles as "Basketball Heroes," "Comedy Tragedy," "Psick and Tired," "Soundburnt," "Electris," "The Earthworm Sings" and "Slo Mo." A relentless hi-hat, cocksure bass lines, and minimal percussion patterns trademark his world-renowned sound. What's more, it often contains an unapologetically primal sexuality, engendering a soulfully human quality that transpires from more than the sum of technical mastery or artistic vision. It is said that religion is for people who believe in hell, while spirituality is for those who have already been there. McBride's music tells the tale of the latter.

McBride just relaunched his label Communiqué Records last month with the release "One with the Universe" featuring longtime collaborator DJ Hyperactive. Blueline Chicago will release McBride's techno/acid-house EP "Think for Yourself" (his first since "I Am Psychic You Know") this fall, but you can catch much of that material in the shows of his world tour, which graces our city this Saturday before heading off to France. We discussed his projects in advance of this show.

What kind of sound are you working with now?

I have always been a techno shaman. I have chosen that genre because to me it harmonizes most authentically with nature, time, space and humanity at a subatomic level that is free of cultural and societal conventions... We are kinetic beings. The beauty is that we have the choice to channel that energy into useful and meditative ways. In many respects, it is New Age music over pounding tribal beats... and of course there is a little of the eighties metal-head in me still.

How does playing live with all those other guys work?

It is a really exciting mélange of creativity: a DJ, a live Tabla player, two programmers and all my vintage synths and drum machines... I am the orchestrater and my band mates jam with me on my journey of thirteen years of production heading into the future of the ESP broadcast to the world... It is everything I have been working towards: The show has time to breathe, pause and allow different solo artists with different perspectives to shed new light onto my music. St. Vitas and I are the main programmers for the two-hour show. There is a holistic message of universal connectedness underscoring it all, but it takes shape in the form of the classic death and rebirth model where we must go through the darkness to find healthy and resolved transformation... People create problems for themselves when they do not know how to embrace and appreciate the chaos of process and change as they go through their lives. A series of unresolved transitions can drag you down. My music will tear off your false self, then turn on the lights so you can see the real you.

Having considerably changed your lifestyle from when you first started your career, what now informs/inspires your music?

That is a great question. As a teen, I fueled my art by grinding my spirit up against the constructs, contradictions and conventions of a caustic, primitive mainstream society. In recent years, I have become much more porous and have been careful to no longer let cultural debris attach to my mind, body or soul. That is difficult. Ridding myself of TV, cooked foods, reinterpreting my basic feelings about life and people, learning to not be judgmental and getting my mind in shape are practices that yield all sorts of inspiration, energy and creativity with which to write music. Lately, I seem to write two kinds of songs: one from pure subconscious inspiration and songs of a more intentional nature. This second type is engineered for a techno pagan ritual (i.e. club, rave, festival, etc.)... My vision and drive is to liberate people and help them flush themselves out of the matrix-like gestation pods that teach us to be consumers and human garbage cans. I love people and don't believe it is human nature to operate in sleep mode all your life. I am one of the many who have woken up and want to share the beauty and euphoria of being awake!!!!

Woody McBride's live PA will feature St. Vitas, David Diagonal and Mike Hawk alongside co-headliner Frankie Bones, Paul Anthony, Dysqo, Alex Zelenka, Tim Fusion and DJ-Spin at Vision, 632 North Dearborn, (312) 266-1944, January 21, 10pm-5am. $15 presale or $10 before 11pm with rsvp to purefuture.com.

(2006-01-17)

Also by Melissa Lane

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(2005-10-04)

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