Wearing Us Out: Night Of The Brain

Christian Vogel is usually associated with the world of techno but this summer has seen him branch out into the land of guitar and drums with his new project Night Of The Brain. Hot on the heels of the release of the bands debut album 'Waer This World Out' Gigwise caught up with the electro-wizard in Barcelona...

Hi Cristian, how is Barcelona?
 
Very sunny thankyou!
 
Great! We are here today to talk about Night Of The Brain. What prompted the decision to persue a full band project?
 
Well, If I was being honest I would say a big part of it was growing very bored with travelling the world alone as a DJ. It can get very lonely, it is a lonely art. It is easy and it pays very well and it can be fun but I needed a change. I had also become very bored of the techno scene in general.
 
Was that your internal boredom with the scene or the scene itself boring you?
 
A combination of the two I guess. The techno scene moves fast. Always very very fast. One week one record is massive and the next week that record has been outdone and everyone moves to the next one. I also felt that there had been a change in the clubs in terms of the atmosphere. I don't know what it was, maybe people changing what they were drinking or whatever else it might be that they were taking but the whole vibe has definitely changed.
 
So is NOTB a means to reinvigorate yourself?
 
In a way yes, I think I just needed a new challenge. The thing with a band is that it is a different kind of pressure to the pressure you have making a techno record. Whereas if you are producing a techno tune there is that pressure to make it the very best tune and compress that high-hat sound or create the best kick drum sound or whatever with the band there is no sense that we are going to be the best band in the world. That pressure is not there, we simply want to play good music.
 
Is it in some way reaching back to the fruitful creative patnership you shared with Jamie Liddell in SuperCollider?
 
Well SuperCollider was great in that we made some great music and got to travel around together and see some places and we got on very well as friends but the whole process became a little wearying. Doing things like whole days locked away in hotel rooms doing press and things like that was not so good. This is a very different band to SuperCollider though which was a highly collaborative project. With NOTB I tend to come up with most of the ideas for the songs and then they are played out in the studio.