“We were very young the first time around, so this has been like a completely new experience.”
If you’ve listened to the Darkness Calling playlist, chances are you’ve heard the voice of Brian Belknap. He’s one half of BlakLight, one of our favorite dark discoveries. Of course, BlakLight isn’t Brian’s first project. In fact, he’s probably better-known on the synth scene for his work with Mind Machine, a darkwave duo that can be traced back to the early nineties. If you’re not familiar with their music, you’re in luck on this Friday the 13th, as today marks the release of their Saying Sorry EP, a brand-new collection of six dark-but-danceable tracks.
To learn more about their new release — and the origins of this prolific cult favorite — we spoke to Brian B. and the other Brian in the band, Brian Olsen, who provides the bleeps and bloops that make Mind Machine blow our minds.
Read on below.
DARKNESS CALLING: Thanks for chatting with us! What can you share about the writing and production process for your new song “Saying Sorry”? We love how it captures the melancholy-yet-fun sound of 80’s greats like Depeche Mode (while still sounding undeniably modern).
BRIAN O: You’re welcome, our pleasure. And thanks for the compliment. It’s funny because that particular track is one of the first songs I wrote for Mind Machine back in 1990. But other than performing it once in concert, we never did anything with it. But earlier this year, that song randomly got stuck in my head. I always liked the hooks and chord changes in the song, but never was happy with the arrangement and found it quite repetitive. I decided for fun to completely rearrange the song and give an updated take on the production. The old version had four verse parts and four chorus parts, so I cut those in half and tried to make the song sound more full and interesting by adding a few more arpeggiated sequences and melodic parts. I kept the original lyrics intact, which had a contribution by our former bandmate David Blatty (He wrote the third and fourth verses). The new version was originally gonna be used for our live set in 2020 (as were the rest of the tracks on the new EP) but obviously it had to sit on the shelf. So we thought we’d just release those songs this year since we had nothing else in the works for 2020.
DARKNESS CALLING: You also resurrected some other older tracks for this release — namely “Swimming Pool” and “Face the Nation” — which were released on your first demo album back in 1991. What was it like dusting off these songs? Do you cringe when you hear the old recordings, or does it make you feel nostalgic? Maybe a little of both?
BRIAN O: Yeah I cringe a bit. [Laughs] But then I remember that we were kids back then. And even though I think I wrote okay songs back then, I was just learning how to program synths and layer melodies. The lyrics, too, were not my best works, but again, considering I was sixteen or seventeen when I wrote a lot of them...
“Face the Nation” is a true classic in our Mind Machine history. I think we played it live at every show we did in the early 90’s, and it was a fan favorite. I had to redo that one for the live shows that never happened. Brian B. persuaded me to rework “Swimming Pool.” It’s one of his favorites from that demo album.
BRIAN B: “Swimming Pool” has always been one of my favorites from our past, and it’s my favorite from this EP. I’m so glad that we got a chance to improve on the original. There’s definitely some cringe and nostalgia with those recordings, and the remnants of a youthful enthusiasm. But we’re not embarrassed of where we started. If we were, we would have never put them online in the first place. I quite enjoy rough recordings of my favorite artists, and hearing how they’ve evolved over the years.
DARKNESS CALLING: This new EP is one of many great releases you’ve had since reforming in 2015. What is it like working together again after a 20 year hiatus? (1995-2015) How did the reunion happen?
BRIAN B: We were very young the first time around, so this has been like a completely new experience. Much of our time back in the day was spent hanging out, and we really should have got a lot more accomplished than we did. These days, though we rarely see each other in person, we chat online nearly every day and work solely by sending files back and forth. After finding a box of old cassettes back in the summer of 2014, we started reminiscing about the band. We initially posted some of our old recordings on Soundcloud in early 2015, just for fun. It slowly evolved into discussing how we could record new material. Since neither of us had any recording equipment, we began by adding vocals to some of our unfinished 90’s demos, resulting in our Movement release in 2017. Eventually, we felt that there was unfinished business, as we began working on new material for what would become the 2019 album Return to the Machine.
DARKNESS CALLING: COVID threw a wrench into everyone’s touring plans. Some artists have ventured into livestream broadcasts as a way to fill that void. Is there any potential for a Mind Machine livestream in the future?
BRIAN B: We haven’t played live since 1991. The Saying Sorry EP was conceived because we had finally confirmed a show for January of this year, so Brian O had re-programmed some of our early material for live shows. Sadly, the show fell apart (for non-pandemic related reasons), and though we had hoped to put some more shows together, Covid-19 hit and those plans were axed. We’d like our live return to be on the stage, so it’s doubtful that we’ll do a livestream any time soon, though anything is possible.
DARKNESS CALLING: Your new EP also has an updated version of “Evil Girl.” This is one of the EP’s standout tracks in our opinion, and it’s pretty different from the original track. Can you tell us more about the genesis of this song and how the new version came about?
BRIAN O: Well, I composed this one back in 1992, and originally it was an instrumental called “Stupid Girl” (This is the reason the version on the EP is called “Stupid Version” — It’s my little inside joke). I changed the title before writing lyrics a few years ago for a couple reasons: Garbage had a hit song with the same name, and my wife didn’t care for the title!
[Editor’s note: I also thought of the Garbage song, and my wife has never been able to get past that song title, either! A little defensive?]
The intro riff in the new version was actually a melody idea I had that went nowhere. When I put a bassline down for it, I realized it was the same chords as “Evil Girl,” so eventually I just made it into a new version. Yeah, I’m really thrilled with how this one came out. It’s almost more like a club or dance version, but very clean with a lot of sharp, stabby sounds. Brian B’s vocals really shine here as well, as I think they did for the entire EP.
DARKNESS CALLING: Thanks again for chatting with us! Is there anything else you’d like to share with our readers? Any other new releases/upcoming collaborations that should be on their radar?
BRIAN B: Thanks so much for having us! We’ve got a song on an upcoming release, Living in Oblivion: A Tribute to Anything Box, which we don’t have a release date for yet, but we hear it’s coming soon. We’ve covered one of our favorite tracks, “Do You Hear Me Anymore.” Anything Box was a huge influence on us when we were starting out, and we’re honored to be a part of it. Additionally, all proceeds will benefit Claude from Anything Box, who is dealing with some huge medical expenses. Brian O will be getting to work on new Mind Machine material in 2021. In the meantime, my project with Adam Collier, BlakLight, is releasing our debut album Music in a Time of Uncertainty on November 20th, and Brian O has a side project that he’s between toiling away with, as well.
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