Special silentrecords.net interview with
Rod Modell (September 02, 2002)

How did you meet Kim Cascone and get involved with Silent Records?

Kim (PGR) was the opening act for an industrial band that I was associated with in the early 80’s, so I was aware of him and his music very early on.  Ten years later, I had a girl working for me at a coffee house that I operated.  She got to know my musical tastes, and then told me that ”I need to meet her husband (Chris Troy), because he’s into the same stuff that I am, and has a room full of modular synthesizers from the 60’s and 70’s”.  I was intrigued.  Chris and I got together, and did some sonic experimentation.  Things sounded nice.  Then an “experimental guy” at a local college radio station heard what we were doing, and asked us to come onto his radio show and do a live set.  We did, and thought it would be nothing more than that.  There were no plans on releasing it, but after the broadcast, we were swamped with calls (to the radio station) asking where someone could buy the stuff they just heard.  I remembered Kim from way back, and knew he started Silent, so I sent him a tape of the show.  10 days later, an excited Kim Cascone called me saying “we have a very narrow window of opportunity here, and we need to get this released asap”.  the CD came out a few weeks later.  It was all VERY fast.  The CD was in stores about 8 weeks after I met Chris for the very first time.  I think it was the last Silent release under Kim Cascone, which is special.  That’s what he meant by “narrow window” on his phone call.  I think Kim knew the “Silent ship” was sinking.

Describe the "ambient scene” during the time you were putting out material for Silent.  How has it changed?

I think by the time the “v.1.01-1.9” CD came out on Silent (1996), the scene was already almost dead.  I think ambient peaked out in the early 90’s.  It was wonderful back then because everyone had an open mind about “music”.  Back then, people were receptive to new musical concepts.  Today, “full mass-media deprogramming” has taken place.  Experimental artists that were selling 3500 CD’s in 1992 are lucky to be selling 300 today.  It’s a shame.  Most people I knew who liked Clock DVA (for example) in ‘92 listen to pop-radio or rock music today.  It’s extremely sad.  To me, those people were never REALLY into it in the first place.  I wish someone would come up with a master plan to revitalize the scene.  Some have tried and failed because they didn’t realize it needs to be a group effort, and not one person with an ego. One person can’t make a scene.  Maybe on person with 12 artists behind him that are equally excited about the future.  Some labels seem to be doing good with a new-age variant of the Silent sound.


Is there any unreleased material from the Silent period?

Yes.  Plenty.  I have about 40 DATS on the upper shelf in a closet that have not been sorted or played since 1997 (when I sold my DAT machine and bought a CD Burner).  I think there could be many “sonic gems” on those tapes.  They were all recorded during the Silent period, so I was in the “v1.0-1.9” frame of mind.  Chris also has many DATS and 2500-foot reels of tape from back then.


What is your favorite Silent release?

Impossible to pick one.  I can give my top three:

1. Cosmic Trigger - Polar Regions
2. Michael Mantra - Sonic Alter
3. Chris Meloche - Distant Rituals

Any plans on re-releasing the Silent material?

Actually, over the past couple years, labels have contacted ma and asked, and I was all for it, but they never followed through.  One label wanted to put it on vinyl.  I’ve noticed copies of “v1.0-1.9” selling on ebay for $35+, so maybe there may be an interest.  Maybe it will happen someday.  I would be up for it.  Re-mastered with new artwork.  Maybe someone needs to make an archival label for “vintage ambient works”.  That would be awesome!  I’ll donate my audio mastering skills if someone would do it.

What are you up to now?

Since the Silent release, I’ve had almost 20 releases (including comp cd’s) on LUNAR (Soleilmoon/Amplexus sublabel), HYPNOS, deepchord, Linear Logic (PACOU from Tresor in Berlin), Octal, Silver (in Belgium), and many smaller labels.  I co-own and record music for a Detroit based techno label called deepchord (www.deepchord.com).  Deepchord has been pretty successful (by 2002 standards) for me.  We put out 15 releases, and have sold close to 20,000 records in the past 3 years.  We played at the 2002 Detroit Electronic Music Festival (DEMF) for about 10,000 people, and recently (humorous factoid), Alex Patterson (ORB) was caught playing my deepchord stuff in his sets.  It was funny, a friend called on his cell phone (from a club in Boston) shouting... “LISTEN, LISTEN, I’m holding the phone up”, and you could hear my music on the PA.  He continued... “I just wanted to let you know that I’m at an Alex Patterson DJ set right now, and he’s jamming your deepchord tracks”.  Deepchord is distributed by Watts in New York and HardWax in Berlin.  I’m also doing audio mastering for Richie Hawtin’s (Plastikman) M-NUS label.  I just finished Theorem “Experiments in Synchoronicity” (w/ music by Sutekh, Stewart Walker, Swayzak, and Dale Lawrence), and Niederflur “ND4” for M-Nus.  There was a Rod Modell / Steve Roach / Vir Unis project planned for deepchord, but Steve dropped the ball on that one.  That was really unfortunate, because I think it could have opened Steve’s work to an entirely new audience.  Michael Mantra and I have a new ambient release planned for November 2002 on Amplexus in Italy.

Is there anything you would like to add?

Just to say, thanks for the time Darcy.  Silent was a leader in the “ambient world”, and was one of the original ambient forces that spawned hundreds of copy-cat labels, but few could come close to Silent’s reputation and influence.  I think this is a great idea to archive things so it’s not forgotten.  Keep up the great work, and again, thanks for the time and efforts.

 Please include links to any sites you would like included on the site.

deepchord - http://www.deepchord.com

* Note from the editor - the Michael Mantra / Rod Modell release Rod mentioned in this interview has been released.  “Radio Fore” can be purchased from Amplexus.