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"It's Just Trance Music, Really"

An Interview With Tim Holmes From Death in Vegas

THC: I thought it was interesting that you mentioned Velvet Underground. I can definitely see a similarity between your music and something like "Sister Ray," with that almost intense repetition.

TH: Yeah, and when you repeat something, and you repeat it and repeat it and repeat it, even if you just change it subtly, the changes become more apparent. It's just trance music, really. It's not trance in that, you know, Paul Oakenfold-style trance music, but it's trance-inducing music.

THC: Are there any new releases that you really like?

TH: There's a band called Clinic--I don't know if you've ever heard of them--they're an English band. If you can get a copy, check it out, because it's like Beach Boys meets Suicide, but they've got a girl singer. It's punk as well, but it's very, very modern sounding. I've been playing that a lot. I actually just gave that away the other day to someone who hadn't heard it.

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THC: Do you guys listen to the radio a lot when you're touring? Do you get a different sense of the type of popular music around here versus in England?

TH: Well, the stations here are so...you've got your rock station, you've got your R&B stations, you've got your hip-hop stations... I tend not to listen. I don't listen a lot to the radio anyway. I mean, I listen to Radio Three at home, which is a classical music station, because if you spend all your life making loud rock music, you get home and you want something a bit easier on your ears.

THC: Do you think British radio is more eclectic than American radio?

TH: It's not very good at the moment, British radio. I'm seriously thinking that we could start a pirate radio station that's going to play across the board, from punk to techno to dub, but just underground music, because most stations in the U.K., they have advertising, so they have to find a mainstream audience, to sell adverts. [BBC] Radio One, evening-time, is bearable... you know John Peel? He's probably the most famous radio DJ in the U.K. He's always interesting, but I don't really listen to the radio or watch TV.

THC: That's probably better for you. I guess I just have one more question, but it's kind of a cheesy one. Do you think there are three words that describe your sound, if you really had to narrow it down?

TH: Electronic soul music.

For a review of Death in Vegas' recent concert at the Paradise, see page B-2

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