Interview with Surgeon - 11th Hour Technology

Out of a decade of electronic music in the UK, many people have been responsible for the development of the scene, and pushing forward the boundaries of what is possible through experimentation and originality. Within the world of techno, few people can claim to have done quite so much as Tony Child.

Growing up in the industrial centre of Birmingham, he rose swiftly to worldwide recognition with a barrage of startling releases in the early '90s. Putting out material first on local label Downwards, before progressing on to imprints such as Tresor, and his own project Dynamic Tension, he shocked the globe with his uncompromising, machine edged music. Under his moniker of Surgeon, he also began tearing up the dancefloors with his jerky, virtuoso DJ skills, earning him the enviable position of one of the most famous players of the era; and playing a part, along with his fellow Downwards crew, in setting up Birmingham's premier techno event, House of God.

Having recently launched his new label Counterbalance, and for the first time involved with releasing work by new artists, Tony continues to be a driving force in the music.

Throughout his career, he has been well known for his interest in music above all else, and tired of press distortions and media bullshit. Because of this, we have chosen with this interview to explore some of the less known sides of his work, and his feelings on the scene as a whole.

Therefore, we are very proud to present - Tony Child aka Surgeon

11th-hour There has always been much talk of the city of Detroit forging the music it has become renowned for - what and how much influence has the city you live and develop in had upon your music?

Surgeon I've always felt that environment and experience have a large influence on my music. I think the main influence Birmingham has had is the fact that if something didn't exist there, then we had to make it ourselves. There was no techno club, so we made our own (House of God). We'd heard about Lost in London, but didn't have the money to come down to London for a night out so we just made it up as we went along, we had nothing to compare it to. With Downwards, Karl (Regis) started it because I played him some tracks I'd done. I never thought about sending them to another label, I just did them for the hell of it. This whole 'do-it-yourself' attitude is very strong in Birmingham.

11th-hour What good developments have you experienced in the techno scene since you first became involved?

Surgeon There is a much bigger network of record distributors, promoters, booking agents and about 1 million more DJ's than when I first became involved! These days I think it's a lot harder to break into the scene that when I first started, today people seem a lot more 'career minded' about trying to break into the scene and 'work their way up the ladder'

11th-hour In a scene recently stagnated by repetition - generic music, constant plagiarism (repetitive questions!) etc., how difficult do you find it to keep pushing ahead and creating new music, when it would be so easy to give up and jump on the bandwagon?

Surgeon The techno scene seems to 'fold in' on itself very easily. Techno influenced by techno, influenced by techno... etc. I don't hear most of the records that are released these days, that doesn't bother me. I know the good records will find me in the end. Musically, I draw influence from outside the techno scene, whether it's Coil, or Missy Elliot or The Velvet Underground etc, etc. I try to create my own 'blend'. Too much techno sounds as if the same producer made it all in the same studio, no character or personality to set it apart from 100 other records.

11th-hour What are your thoughts on the rapid commercialization of electronic music - is it a passing trend, or will the promise of money clamp it down until it falls apart?

Surgeon For me it comes down to the difference between making music and making product, it depends on the motives behind its creation, but you can always hear them.

11th-hour Do you have an interest in other art mediums (film, literature etc), and if so what (or who)?

Surgeon Yes, but it's hard to make the time. Film - Mike Leigh, David Lynch, Francis Coppola Literature - William S. Burroughs, Bret Easton Ellis Photography - Cindy Sherman

Surgeon Electronic dance music is very effective, so as long as people want to dance it will be here. I don't think it will ever be the most popular form of dance music but I'm sure techno will always be around in some form.

11th-hour You once cited your greatest influences as The BBC workshop recordings and the Doctor Who theme - - in what way were (and are) you inspired by such electronic experimentation?

Surgeon I'm sure most of us remember watching Dr Who when we were very young. I used to love the music and sound effects, they were sounds you'd never heard before, not of this world, very dark. My dad had a few Sci-Fi/Space themes records by BBC radiophonic workshop. I really liked these when I was about 4 or 5.

11th-hour Some would say that techno has long been influenced by external media, particularly science fiction - do you draw influences from such areas in writing your music, and how do you think the shift in the media towards electronic music will affect those already producing it?

Surgeon Apart from my answer to the last question, I wouldn't say that science fiction is a big influence on me, I don't follow it, but I do draw a lot of influence from external media and other types of music. The shift in the media towards electronic music makes it more popular, more people want to DJ than play the guitar and all that. None of this changes to way I work, the music is the most important thing, there are no real stars anymore