{"id":5172,"date":"2015-08-29T18:42:45","date_gmt":"2015-08-29T17:42:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.eyeplug.net\/magazine\/?p=5172"},"modified":"2013-10-09T13:46:55","modified_gmt":"2013-10-09T12:46:55","slug":"dozenq-fog-project","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eyeplug.net\/magazine\/dozenq-fog-project\/","title":{"rendered":"DozenQ – FOG project"},"content":{"rendered":"
This entry is part 2 of 19 in the series DozenQ 4<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>

FOG project<\/strong> was an idea hatched during a fog drenched, cold and wet evening walk to the pub in October 2011. The manifesto is to record dark electronic songs but mask them in a joyful way.\u2028\u2028Originally our debut song Tired was recorded in a booze fuelled recording session. A few people who heard it went mental over it and convinced us put it out.\u2028\u2028We did – and with a little help we infiltrated the UK’s capital attaining radio play at BBC Radio London, XFM London and at one point Radio 1, but we didn’t hear it ourselves.\u2028\u2028Our studio is in a constantly shifting state and is often pulled apart and rebuilt in different locations. We’ve even tried recording in the car but the laptop battery went flat before we could really do anything.<\/p>\n

01 How did you get started in music?<\/h3>\n

We met at an amateur dramatic group and realised we had an equal interest in writing and recording music. We shared demo tapes and decided to give recording together a try and it just worked and has continued to work.<\/p>\n

02 Where did your direction come from?<\/h3>\n

A natural love and need to create art. It sounds corny but it\u2019s something we both do like it\u2019s heaven sent. Sure we both struggle creatively from time to time but it\u2019s not meant to be easy is it!<\/p>\n

03 Who were your major influences and inspirations and who do you despise?<\/h3>\n

We don\u2019t like the idea of despising other musicians. They\u2019re just doing what they do whatever their driving factor is. If they make an unappealing noise then we just don\u2019t listen. Whatever you do or say the music is still there afterward so that hatred never really achieves anything.<\/p>\n

Collectively we share a similar taste in music from the likes of Prince, the Beatles, U2, Gary Numan, Radiohead, MGMT, Thomas Dolby and many more. It all influences us somewhere but we try and remain true to ourselves and create music for ourselves.<\/p>\n

04 What inspires you to make your current type of songs and sound?<\/h3>\n

It could be anything really. A bad day or news report could influence a narrative whereas daily sounds like a pneumatic drill or hammering in a certain way or pattern could inspire a rhythm or groove. Ste once heard a song in the distance wrongly and drew a completely new song from it which amazingly didn\u2019t sound like the one he had heard wrong.<\/p>\n

05 What can someone who has never seen you live before expect from your live shows then & possibly even now?<\/h3>\n

We\u2019re not a live act, we\u2019re songwriter \/ producers so don\u2019t have any plans to get out on the road as most of our music would be just backed via a computer. We could technically just press play and then go to the pub but I don\u2019t think that would go down well with a crowd. Festivals we would consider. We would stay out of the pub for them.<\/p>\n

06 How do you begin your songs? What types of themes and subjects do you deal with?<\/h3>\n

It can vary. Sometimes the lyrics come first other times the music does. Our songs usually carry quite a dark message if you stop and listen to them and this can be reflected in the music sometimes but usually we create a contrast between then words and the overall sound of the tune. Subject matter is usually relating to life, loves and pain \u2013 however we have recorded a track about an abandoned Third Reich robot project called Heil Robot so anything goes really.<\/p>\n

07 How did your music evolved since you first began playing?<\/h3>\n

Largely we\u2019ve just got better equipment and software and our skills in producing have developed over time. Other than that if you listen to our early work compared to today we\u2019ve remained consistent.<\/p>\n

08 What has been your biggest challenge? Were you been able to overcome this? If so, how?<\/h3>\n

Our biggest challenge continues even today which is trying to get our music out to the masses. Everyone says social media is the way forward but it just isn\u2019t. We have our pages but interaction is so slack and it\u2019s not been for the want of trying to engage our fans. We very quickly accepted that nothing has changed, you still need pluggers, you still need a PR machine and at the very least you need to be able to make friends with industry people and be able to ring round and get your music played wherever you can.<\/p>\n

Understanding how radio stations work, how they\u2019re play listed and which stations are owned by big groups helps because you know who to target with your music and who to not bother with. This isn\u2019t something you overcome \u2013 you just have to keep on keeping on and keep the faith. One day your music will fall onto a really useful persons desk\u2026 one day that day will be yours!<\/p>\n

09 Do you play covers? If you could pick any song, which would you like to cover most and why?<\/h3>\n

We don\u2019t do covers. We barely have time to write and record our own music never mind other peoples. Sometimes we\u2019ll nick bits from other songs though, that\u2019s always good for a laugh because people never notice.<\/p>\n

10 Where did you envisage being in five years time?<\/h3>\n

We\u2019ll still be churning out the music; doing it independently and wherever the music takes us you can guarantee we\u2019ll be happy.<\/p>\n

11 Who would you most like to record with?<\/h3>\n

Nobody springs to mind I\u2019m afraid. We\u2019re such fast workers that anyone who we joined with would probably walk out in frustration after the first few hours. We don\u2019t like faffing around too much \u2013 the pubs are calling.<\/p>\n

12 What should we be expecting from you in the near future?<\/h3>\n

We\u2019ve got an album coming out before the end of 2013 called \u201cZoltar Speaks\u201d and it will be available on iTunes and Amazon MP3. No Spotify for us anymore \u2013 streaming music is grim because it does away with a need to commit to a band or artist. Years ago your only option was to buy an album either on vinyl, cassette or CD and once you did you would feel an obligation to listen to the whole thing because you\u2019d bought it so you might as well.<\/p>\n

With MP3\u2019s that\u2019s all gone. You don\u2019t have to buy an album; you only have to buy the tracks from it that you like which are usually the ones you\u2019ve heard on the radio – so you\u2019re letting other people make your mind up for you. The sense of exploration has gone.<\/p>\n

Even with streaming you only get 30 seconds into a track and you find yourself skipping it to something you know. It\u2019s all too immediate; it\u2019s all destinations and no journey. It\u2019s such a shame but we\u2019d rather people buy a track and become our spiritual friend rather than stream and discard us.<\/p>\n

The next single will also feature a special puzzle that you can do on our website:\u00a0fogproject.co.uk<\/a>,\u00a0In order to get a copy of the MP3 you will need to solve a puzzle and in doing so you unlock various parts of the track. Unlock them all and you get the full track otherwise you end up with just bits \u2013 you might end up with just the drums or perhaps bass and vocals. It should be fun.<\/p>\n

Web Links:<\/h3>\n

www.fogproject.co.uk<\/a>
\nwww.facebook.com\/fogprojectofficial<\/a>
\nwww.twitter.com\/FOG_project<\/a>
\nwww.reverbnation.com\/fogmusic<\/a>
\nwww.soundcloud.com\/fogmusic<\/a>
\nwww.youtube.com\/fogproject<\/a><\/p>\n

Link to buy the current single:\u00a0<\/b>itunes.apple.com\/we-are-one-single<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This entry is part 2 of 19 in the series DozenQ 4<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>

FOG project was an idea hatched during a fog drenched, cold and wet evening walk to the pub in October 2011. The manifesto is to record dark electronic songs but mask them in a joyful way.\u2028\u2028Originally our debut song Tired was recorded in a booze fuelled recording session. A few people who heard it went mental over it and convinced us put it out.\u2028\u2028We did – and with a little help we infiltrated the UK’s capital attaining radio play at BBC Radio London, XFM London and at one point Radio 1, but we didn’t hear it ourselves.\u2028\u2028Our studio is in a constantly shifting state and is often pulled apart and rebuilt in different locations. We’ve even tried recording in the car but the laptop battery went flat before we could really do anything.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":48,"featured_media":5175,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[90,141,60,128,91,73,71,87,92],"tags":[570,121,817],"series":[812],"class_list":["post-5172","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-beats","category-dozenq","category-eyeplugs","category-hot-plugs","category-industrial","category-interviews","category-music","category-pop","category-post-punk","tag-dozen-q","tag-eyeplug","tag-fog-project","series-dozenq-4"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eyeplug.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5172","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eyeplug.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eyeplug.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eyeplug.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/48"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eyeplug.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5172"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.eyeplug.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5172\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5178,"href":"https:\/\/www.eyeplug.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5172\/revisions\/5178"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eyeplug.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5175"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eyeplug.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5172"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eyeplug.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5172"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eyeplug.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5172"},{"taxonomy":"series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eyeplug.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/series?post=5172"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}