Tonight’s show was one I have been looking forward to for a while. Earlier this year I was able to record an interview with psychedelic trance artist Alex Diplock, otherwise known as E.V.P. In fact we recorded it over two sessions as the first time we weren’t able to cover everything we wanted, including a tour in India he was able to do in between them. I have always liked his music and have known him for a while so I knew it would be an interesting conversation because, as well as his music and musical background, we would cover other subjects too as he has interests and knowledge in other subjects, including what I try and regularly talk about on the show.
We did find out about his original musical influences, particularly psychedelic rock which inspired him to become a guitarist in a psychedelic rock band. Then his musical studies and experience with sound engineering led him into music production and sound design via the genres gabba and acid techno into psychedelic trance music, then forming Wildthings Records with Beardy. Speaking of his sound design, during the interview you will hear Phoenix FM jingles that E.V.P made. You can find out more here. Along side this over the years he has been studying and developing a business with DJ Neil Apex doing 3D animation and design, particularly for visuals and light shows for parties and festivals. He then shared his experiences of a successful past year with all of the gigs he has played around the world and his upcoming itinerary over the summer and beyond, including the excitement of being on the same line up at the Future Nature festival with one of his favourite bands the Ozric Tentacles.
We then talked about the effect of sound and sound frequencies on our bodies and brains from a healing perspective, especially the influence E.V.P‘s music and psychedelic trance has in general. This then led us on to discussing our evolution as humans and we also discussed the psychedelic trance party scene in London as well as how he’s expanding his music mastering work to other artists, not just his own, including the soon to be released compilation for the Momento Demento festival. Throughout the interview we heard his music, including his side project Reality Grid and the music he suggested from the bands that influenced him, namely Gong, Steve Hillage and the aforementioned Ozric Tentacles. You can listen to it all again here:
Here is the itinerary of his upcoming gigs:
May 28th Parvati Valley India,
May 31st Sunrise Festival, Uk
June 08 Chrysalid, Uk
June 15 Tree Of Life Festival Turkey,
June 20th Tangra Festival Bulgaria,
June 25th Spiritbase Festival Hungary,
August 9th Wonderland festival, Germany
August 10th Paradigm 050 Festival Netherlands,
August 15th Future Nature Festival Croatia,
August 21st Modem Festival Croatia,
Sept 5th Black Moon Festival Italy,
Sept 22nd Texas USA
October 5th London,
October 12th Hamburg
And here is a link to the Soundcloud page of the upcoming Wildthings Records release ‘Nocturnal Network‘
Here’s the playlist for 21st May 2013 (Albums in brackets)
1. Gong – Master Builder (You)
2. E.V.P – Harmonic Module (Harmonic Module)
3. Steve Hillage – The Salmon (Fish Rising)
4. E.V.P – Zombie Killers (Holographic Consciousness)
5. E.V.P – Mutiny (Holographic Consciousness)
6. Ozric Tentacles – Sploosh! (Strangeitude)
7. Reality Grid – The Art Of Music (Reality Check)
8. E.V.P – Neuroplasticity (Neuroplasticity)
9. E.V.P – Baad Sheep (with Southwild) (Neuroplasticity)
10. E.V.P – Ancient Monuments (with Onkel Dunkel) (Neuroplasticity)
11. E.V.P – Spectral Seagulls (Neuroplasticity)
12. E.V.P – The Great Machine (Harmonic Module)