INFORMATION on the former band MANUFACTURE
SurfinBird
In article <1996Jul1...@cctr.umkc.edu>, rye...@cctr.umkc.edu
wrote:
>Doeas anybody have Any info, on a NETTWORK Band called Manufacture.
>I got Terrorvision on tape and I really liked it, and was wondering if anybody,
>possibly had a discoq, on them. I searched the web and to no avail.
>
>Any help would be greatly appreciated.
>Ryan Yeager
>No siq.
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I used to be a Manufacture "Freak" in the Mid to late 1980s. I
saw many of their shows and bought virtually all the recorded material
I could find of theirs. I loved Manufacture's (futuristic at the time)
sound and music, and it is because of Manufacture that I am really into
Industrial Music. I followed their careers to the very end and this is
all the info I have about Manufacture. A lot of this is from old
interviews, articles, shows, and plain old recollection. Bear with me
as this was quite a long time ago, but this is what I remember:
Manufacture members Brian Bothwell & Perry Geyer began
Manufacture through their mutual hatred of music. They often claimed in
interviews that they didn't just hate a type of music, they hated ALL
music. Brian Bothwell (a filmmaker/music video director) and Perry
Geyer (Audio engineer) began Manufacture as a soundtrack company for
horror films, (inspired by a meeting with Richard H Kirk & Steven
Malender, from Cabaret Voltaire.)
Manufacture began doing live multi-media shows around the
early to mid-1980s. These shows featured large multi-media video
projection screens as well as a variety of Special Effects and tons of
sound gear and video gear, a type of show that was virtually unknown in
those days. The things they were doing with video were absolutely
incredible!!!! WAY ! WAY! ahead of their time. (Even today)
According to one article I have, They also had (at the time)
an audio/video studio called Corporation X, Which produced music
videos, soundtracks, independent films, and music demos, for other
bands. An early client of that studio was Buzz McCoy of My Life with
the Thrill Kill Kult.
Manufacture were known by Al Jourgenson, who was a fan.
Manufacture were then hired by Al Jourgenson to open for a Ministry
show (Twitch tour) and after seeing them live, instantly worked out a
deal with WAX! TRAX! for a record, which Al Jourgenson was to produce.
Manufacture then became the opening act for several Ministry shows in
the mid-west and Chicago, for the remainder of that "tour".
During the pre-production of the record ("Terrorvision"),
MANUFACTURE and Al Jourgenson took some time out to Record a 12"
REVOLTING COCKS single with Richard 23 (Of Front 242), titled "You
Often Forget". The result was a single released by REVCO with Richard
23's lyrics on it and Al & Manufacture's programming, using
Manufacture's original sound samples.
When the single was released, No writing credit (they claimed)
was given to Manufacture for the work they did on "You Often Forget"
and they (allegedly) had disagreements with Al Jourgenson about it.
Also a (alleged) rift was placed between Richard 23, Front 242 and Al
Jorgenson and eventually they too left WAX TRAX, for Epic. Although
(Money and promotional power was Front 242's main reason)
Manufacture were then signed to Nettwerk (Through Dave
Olgilvy, a co-producer/engineer/live-mixer of Skinny Puppy) The songs
Manufacture wrote for Wax! Trax! became the NETTWERK album
"Terrorvision". They utilized even more of the same set of original
industrial samples, (the same ones they used for "You Often Forget")
which Manufacture had recorded live on location with a demolition
company that was destroying a large office building in Boston, MA,
USA., As well as a vast array of other sound samples.
Several 12" Singles were released as well. (All available
from Nettwerk)
Manufacture released two albums for Nettwerk:
Terrorvision (1988) CD album w/12" singles
1) "Armed Forces" 12" Single. w re-mixes& re-edits by Dave Ogilvy.
2) "As the End Draws Near" (Featuring the vocals of future Nettwerk
recording artist Sarah MacLachlan) & "Passion for the Future" (B-side)
12" Single.
3) "TerrorVision" 12" Single (Primarily for DJs only) Very Rare, but
one of their best works. w/UP-Link/Down-Link Re-mixes & edits by
Manufacture.
Voice Of World Control (1990) CD album w/12"single
1) "Many Machines" 12" Single
2) 5 song re-mix CD
A 60 minute video compilation was also produced, as well as,
several music videos. These were killer videos directed by Brian
Bothwell, especially the videos for "Many Machines", "Armed Forces" and
"As the End Draws Near". Very creatively intense. The editing he did on
them was unbelievable! But the best one (In my opinion) was the music
video for "Many Machines" from their second album, "Voice of World
Control". What a extraordinary video! (for it's time) Manufacture made
the BEST videos back then.
Manufacture was to do a national tour opening for Skinny
Puppy for support of "Terrorvision" but Skinny Puppy were having
problems and the tour was unfortunately canceled. I think they toured
with friends Front 242 in Europe instead. (If I remember correctly) For
some reason they always toured Europe, but never got the chance to tour
North America.
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>quote:<
>They had two albums and pretty much disappeared... the second being a< >lot more poppy than Terrorvision. Anyway, Perry Geyer put together an<
>"industrial" sampling CD (individual sounds for people with samplers to<
>use) with Greg Hawkes of the Cars a couple years back....<
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Most of the samples that are used on "Terrorvision" can be found on
that CD. As a matter of fact when I heard all of Manufacture's samples
were on it, I ran out and bought it. The samples are totally amazing!
Too bad the second album was too poppy, apparently it broke up the
band.
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I also found the following information about Manufacture,
from an Interview I read with Manufacture band member Brian Bothwell a
few years ago, In FAD Magazine.
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In the article it says actually Manufacture *was* a
semi-industrial synth duo from Boston, however they did spent quite a
bit of time in Vancouver, and still do. I read that band members Perry
Geyer & Brian Bothwell, parted creative ways over differences over the
creative direction of the band. They just could not agree on anything.
Perry Geyer wanted to go more Pop/Dance (Depesh Mode, Info Society),
while Brian Bothwell wanted to maintain a harder more original
industrial sound combined with melody & hardcore Thrash guitars.
(Similar to the song "Terrorvision" or "Many Machines" but harder)
He states in the interview that "Many Machines",
"Terrorvision" & "As the End Draws Near" were his favorite songs the
band had done. He claimed that "Manufacture's main goal was to scare
the shit out of people." He said that Manufacture had met Nettwerk
recording artist Sarah MacLachlan in Vancouver while they were
recording the "Terrorvision" album for Nettwerk. Bothwell asked Sarah
to sing on the track "As the End Draws Near" and apparently did not
realize that Sarah was also signed to Nettwerk as well. (He said that
working with her was "Really just an experiment", as was "Everything
Manufacture did") He indicated there were problems with directing the
video for "As the End Draws Near" because they were unable to
incorporate Sarah into the video, (top brass at Nettwerk forbid it) and
that he was very disappointed she could not appear in the video. But he
compensated for it with a lot of footage of bombs, explosions, and
human suffering. He also said in the interview that the song "As The
End Draws Near" was almost selected for part of the soundtrack for a
Vim Vendors Film.
Manufacture also had a third album finished- but eventually
(and unfortunately) disbanded. (according to this article) due to
uncontrollable creative differences.
The interview goes on to say that after disbanding, the band
members made several attempts to get back together but couldn't do it.
Bothwell went on to directing music videos for Nettwerk recording
artists, Consolidated, and MC 900' Jesus, as well as many other
alternative/ industrial acts. He also won awards for TV Commercial
Directing & Editing. The Consolidated video also won "Video of the
Year" on MTV's 120 minutes show.
Brian Bothwell also joined another favorite band of mine,
Emergency Broadcast Network (For a brief period) as a keyboard player
for their live shows, along with Fred Giannelli, of Psychic TV, on
guitars. (IMHO,,,,EBN is definitely a Manufacture influenced Band) He
also stated he still creates industrial music but is not interested in
making records ever again, but perhaps soundtracks. (That is really too
bad!!!) But, band member Perry Geyer has a new "Techno" influenced act
called HAL 9000, and IS making records.
Manufacture also released quite a few 12"singles on Nettwerk,
that were great. Two of my favorites were of course the 12" dance
single & re-mix for "As the End Draws near" and "Passion for the
Future", and The 12" dance re-mix single for the title song from their
first album "Terrorvision". (very hard to get) The 12" single for the
song "Many Machines" was fucking great.
Weird wasn't the word for Manufacture, they were more surreal
& sound trackish. They were very very Apocalyptic. Their live shows
consisted of a multi-media video presentation, with enormous video
screens, sets, and large rusted steel junk all over the stage, etc.,
etc. (They were very ahead of their time, perhaps a little TOO ahead of
their time), but I loved them.
IMHO, the album "Terrorvision is a "Must Have" for any true
industrial fan. And the 12" single for the song "As the End Draws Near"
is a "Must Have" for any hard core Sarah MacLachlan fan. "Voice of
World Control" IS a little poppier, but there is still some good stuff
on it.
I can only thank Manufacture for turning me on to industrial music!
Hope this info helps!
cheers!
Sasha Bird.
(aka: SURFIN BIRD)
PS- Also You can email directly (in...@nettwerk.com) Ask for the
Nettwerk catalog, and one will be sent your way.
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