Saemskin has been a Darksonus regular for years, and through these years he has honed a skill for brooding sounds and rhythmic beat driven madness ala Ad Noiseam or Hands label artists. He had released Simile for Murder a 7 track soundscape which has ever since been gaining momentum, being reviewed by such sites as ReGen, Side-Line, Smother, and Heathen Harvest. Here it is, a year later, and I thought it would be good to get the thoughts of Saemskin on the past and future of this project.

DS: Good afternoon, Josh. You are the driving force behind Saemskin. Is that how you pronounce it? Like Same-skin?

Josh/Saemskin: Yup, that’s it!

DS: Weren’t you releasing under J. Conley before Saemskin? Why the switch?

Josh/Saemskin: Hmm, I didn’t think anyone paid attention to that at all. The stuff I put out as J. Conley was my beginning to making music, and the majority of it was simply an ejaculation of noise and excitement for just being able to make music with software, and as such was mixed horribly and had next to no cohesion in and between tracks. After the tremendous learning experience of my demo ‘Supplication’, which grounded me to the fact that my mixing was really very far from anything labeled good, I assembled a grouping of 3 songs in the “When I Was Scared” series. I realized that I did have the ability to follow a theme at least in my own mind. As I progressed in my ability to write and assemble a cogent piece of music I wanted to distance myself from my initial offerings, and the best way I could think to do that was a name change.

DS: What does Sameskin mean? Where does that come from?

Josh/Saemskin: It’s actually a culmination of 2 things. I wrote a poem a long time ago and a line that was one of my favorites both in intensity of intent and gruesome implications goes like this “…once wrapped by the same skin that pulls taut my face….” to paraphrase. The clincher was way back when the internet was in its infancy, and I was an extremely hostile person, imagine that, right? I was subscribed to the Epilogue Skinny Puppy mailing list as callowpuppy. My attitude got me banned when I invited the entire list to come to Toledo and fight me, but I still had to be on the cusp of the happenings of all things Puppy. So I resubbed as saemskin. Thus my moniker was born, but I had not thought to start calling myself that until much later though.

I was an extremely hostile person, imagine that, right?

DS: Did you get anyone to come fight you? I would be interested in kicking your ass.

Josh/Saemskin: Unfortunately no. It seems the anonymity of the Internet has beaten me again. I’m sure we could arrange a bout betwixt the two of us. I’ll warn you though; I’ve been training 5 days a week for the last 3 months. Better make it before I start taking Jiu Jitsu classes then. Ha!

DS: Well, I’ve been eating radioactive spiders every day…or something.

Josh/Saemskin: Make sure the 5 people who will be reading this know that you’re really just in love with my great percussive technique and beating on me won’t take that away, chump. You’ll have to live with #2 status until I retire.

DS: I…uh…

Josh/Saemskin: But seriously, my brother and I discovered a technique for getting people to back down when they really don’t want to fight but are acting like they do. If you go red-zone right away, they’ll usually back down. The person to get the maddest the fastest wins. Unless, as I say, they really do want to fight you, then you’re fighting…

DS: A Simile for Murder…I first read that as A Smile for Murder, but now I see my mistake, I like A Simile for Murder much better. It has been out for a year or so, can you tell me what inspired this release? How do you feel about the release today?

Josh/Saemskin: Well I had some material I thought was pretty good, and my ability was to the point I felt it was time. When I began to tell people that I was releasing an album, I couldn’t back away from it even though I realized that I was pretty far from ready when I sat down and looked at the actual minutes of tracks I had that was good enough to put my name on. It’s difficult to just have the courage to put yourself out in front of anyone who wanted to listen. I take a lot of pride in everything I do that involves creation. Even in my day job as a design engineer, I see everything I do as art and try and put my stamp on it in that fashion, so it was hard for me to stop mixing & fixing and just be done already. Some parts of that album make me cringe, but I’m extremely pleased with what I’ve done and am glad I did it. I just wish other people were pleased with what I did as well, and bought a disc or two. <Wink>

I take a lot of pride in everything I do that involves creation. Even in my day job as a design engineer, I see everything I do as art and try and put my stamp on it in that fashion.

DS: What are your favorite moments on A Simile for Murder?

Josh/Saemskin: The track “Brought The Fire” is some of my best work. The high-pitched arp I designed on my Virus TI at the end of the ASFM title track is also another high point. I really enjoy composing groovy elements like that.

DS: A few of the song titles are a bit cryptic, such as “Ode to GG Vol. III (tended to)”. What do they all mean?

Josh/Saemskin: The OTGG series is a group of tracks created in memory to the passing of my grandma. The series is not finished, but you’ll see the first couple had a definitive Native American undercurrent because she was born on a Canadian Reservation. These last few tracks I tried to pour out as much distress as I am capable of expressing. This latest track was about a hospital visit where being ‘tended to’ resulted in death. The title to this particular track is a very cynical one. The other tracks on the album are exactly that, cryptic. I did not want to be too specific about what they were about so if a person feels that something clicks for them, then yes -for them- that is what the song is about. I sit back and make vague situational commentary, and the few lyrics I do write are more of a streaming consciousness style. I have always felt it’s better to guide the listener and let them draw their own conclusions, because the experience of allowing the listener to use their imagination is a valuable one to me, and part of the fun of listening to music. Meaning is where you find it, and things hold only the value you give them.

DS: The Female voice on “Ode”, who is that? The voice on “soldiers eye”, is that you?

Josh/Saemskin: I called my sister Jessica and asked her to write something about our grandma, then come over when she’s done so I can record her reading it. That is me on Soldiers eye, screaming my head off at one point even.

DS: Some of A Simile for Murder feels like soundtrack music. Was there a movie that inspired you, or do you imagine a movie to go along with this?

Josh/Saemskin: A movie, eh? I don’t really find motivation in movies; they don’t provide that sort of inspiration for me. If someone approached me to make some music for a film I think I would be terrified. Mostly because whatever I did would never be good enough to be broadcast in front of a major audience. I’m picturing an ulcer in that situation.

DS: Then what did inspire you on this CD – on a more deep level? And what inspires you to continue making music?

Josh/Saemskin: I’ve always wanted to do this. Who didn’t want to be Vince Neil as kid? The act of creation has always been an inspiration to me. Nearly every hobby I have entertained in my life has involved creation in one form or another. Making models, building stomp boxes and rack mount processors. I love it. Only this form is the pinnacle of expression. The act itself is a great inspiration; my problem is that I have to continue having fun with it instead of beating myself up over every nuance. Live shows are another source. After the Jesu and Isis show I came home and sat up all night because the bass guitar tone Jesu has designed is really great. I love dirty bass, and the newest Prodigy record is a source of inspiration for me in that respect. Putting myself out there, people noticing, and the possibility of working with other talented artists is another thing I’m continually driving at.

DS: Are there any plans for live shows?

Josh/Saemskin: Probably not. I have no intentions of boring the crap out of people by twiddling a mouse in front of them. Were I able to hook up with a couple of other folks who could play real instruments, then I could see it happening. Do you know any guitarists that would want to work with me?

DS: What is in the future for Saemskin?

Josh/Saemskin: I would most like to work with other artists. Finding people who are interested and have the time to do such a thing is not easy though. When I say other artists I mean more in the Chris Vrenna respect. Singers, guitarists, etc. to make music with. I am also branching out into other genres as well. I have adopted another pseudonym, which is going to be a Goa Trance project named ‘Eough’. Loosely speaking, for lack of a better category. Saemskin is also making some post rock sounds. Keep your eyes peeled for a video to be released soon in that vein. I’ll be releasing the OTGG remix disc in the not too distant future which features remixes by 3 amazing artists; hEADaCHE, Celadon, and Ah Cama-Sotz. Each remix is better than the original so I hope it turns a few heads in that respect. After that, Celadon and I have been talking about collaboration between us gents. He is very talented at sampling and orchestrating drones, so it should be a lot of fun to work with him again. After that, I plan to finish working on a conceptual double album I have been playing with off and on for about a year now. Terror Beats and Terror Ambience. I have been talking with a label about releasing this disc, and they appear to be receptive, but we’ll see when the time comes if it will work out.

DS: Sounds good, I can’t wait! I’ll keep my ears open for the new material. Thanks for your time.

Josh/Saemskin: Thanks my man. Keep your eyes open for a multimedia remix EP in the next month or two, with a video for the title track by HeadGearMedia.

For More information on Saemskin and Josh Conley:
Official Saemskin Website
Saemskin on Myspace
Saemskin’s DarkSonus Profile

About the interviewer:
hEADaCHE is the founder of the band CEOXiME, long time member of the DarkSonus community and remixer extraordinaire. You can get more info on hEADaCHE at the official CEOXiME website located at: http://ceoxime.com