Click Interview with Gin Devo: ‘Who Wants To Create Music In Front Of A Computer Screen?’

Dark-Electro heads know Gino Devos aka ‘Gin Devo’ as core member of Vomito Negro. The Belgian musician also started to compose music under his own name and released a few noticeable productions. Gin Devo sounds more ‘free-styled’ and as Gino explains in the interview this project gives him more ‘freedom’. The newest album “The Garden Of Evil” released last year on Scanner / Dark Dimensions features extremely dark and tormented atmospheres with great Minimal-Electro compositions.

(Courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Q: You don’t exactly release new work at regular basis as Gin Devo but what means this solo-project to you and especially in comparison with Vomito Negro?

Gin: The musical direction from Vomito Negro over the years almost never changed. Vomito Negro’s style  is still the same as in the 80s; it is impossible to change a musical direction from a band who is busy so long time.

Vomito Negro took another approach in the past with “Fireball” and this turned out very bad for the band.

With Gin Devo I have more freedom, every solo album takes a different starting point or style, for me this is very important because I like to experiment and start again where other bands stopped in the 80s or 90s.

Q: What are the main differences between both projects when it comes to influences, sound approach & -research, production, concept?

Gin: With Gin Devo and “The Garden of Evil” I started to work the way we did in the early 90s. The early 90s where very bad for our style of Electronic music because House music started to dominate the scene, so lots of Electro bands quit or started to make Dance music, what sounded pathetic.

So for me the 90s are musically incomplete, and this is a gift for me because I own the know-how and instruments to complete that decade.

Q: Tell us a bit more about “The Garden Of Evil”? What have been the triggers and influences to compose this work and what does the title refer to?

Gin: Years ago I was listening to Clock DVA’s “Buried Dreams”, and asked myself why isn’t there a successor for that album or musical style, and I came with the same answer… the scene was dying.

So this triggered me to start with “The Garden Of Evil”.

No musician is working in that 90s style anymore, so I’m the only one who dares to pick up the thread again.

So I produced this album completely in the way we did in the early 90s.

Q: Listening to productions of Vomito Negro and Gin Devo I’m always fascinated by the overwhelming darkness running through your work. Where does this dark side comes from and in which way is it a mirror to your soul?

Gin: I grew up in the 80s, that was not a very happy period, we listened a lot to dark music styles and started to compose music ourselves. The 80s were very grey, buildings where dirty from exhaust gasses, there was a lot of un-employment.

There are people who fight against darkness, and there are others who use the darkness to create stuff… music, art etc… that’s me.

Q: You’re definitely fascinated by good-old analogue and modular equipment which is a totally different way of working than composing music with digital- and software synths. Tell us a bit more about your studio equipment, favorite tools and your perception of ‘artists’ working with software synths?

Gin: I bought lots of vintage analog gear 20 years ago, nobody wanted those dinosaurs anymore, so they were very cheap. The same with the early 90s digital synths, they collected dust and people sold them for peanuts. So I own lots of them, my studio is packed with gear from the 70s 80s 90s. Those old instruments have a distinctive sound and beautiful control boards, they invite you to explore them and create sounds and music.

Maybe plug-ins work good too, but who wants to create music in front of a computer screen? It’s boring and contra-artistic, you have to touch your instruments, feel them… not only hear them.

Q: You’ve been involved with music since the early 80s so how do you see the evolution of Electronic music generally speaking and how do you expect things evolving the next years? And how would be your life without music?

Gin: With modern Electro I think they sometimes  make it too complex or too distorted. So I’m very selective in the albums I listen to. I think small electro bands are always better to innovate, and larger bands steal from them.

I couldn’t imagine a life without music, I hope my ears, brain and hands keep working for a long time.