12. Cabaret VoltaireThe Voice Of America

Hearing Cabaret Voltaire was when I realised that tape loops were really cool. I would have been on tour with my band, Galen, and the Scissor Girls, so it must have been 1995. We were staying somewhere in DC or Baltimore I think, and when we woke up in the morning Azita from the Scissor Girls put on Cabaret Voltaire – The Voice Of America. I had never heard it before, I was like, ‘What is this music?!’ Throbbing Gristle was a name I’d heard a lot and read some things about, but this Cabaret Voltaire record was the first of the early industrial music that I actually heard, and it sent me on that path. I think it put the bug in my ear to keep my eyes peeled for used synthesisers, and to maybe try making a tape loop.