"Blah Blah Blah!", Hertz-Lion, 1998
David Cotner

"Here follows an interview with Gordon Sharp... The experiment...was to give 100 modern experimental musicians the same 20 questions - to compare and contrast views on some prevailing issues within the field. They also got one zinger - a 21st question..."

In what way are you your parents child?

My parents gave me the gift of warmth and sent me out into the world with an openness and an ability to share. I can't think of anything more they could have given me. They are straightforward folks who have little or no understanding of what I do...yet they are very supportive. I'm the daughter they always wanted...

What aspects of structure does your music share with your upbringing?

I'm Scottish...weaned on tales of guerilla warfare and mischievous rebels...our landscape is rough, raw and full of gaping holes...our music and poetry, passionate and painful. We are a socialistic people, community-based...and I was something of a loner. I valued the community but never really felt part of it...thus contributing to a sense of displacement from an early age. Displacement is something, I think, that CINDYTALK is steeped in. My Presbyterian upbringing lends itself to my sense of simplicity and dynamics. Structure is a very important part of my work...and I feel that CINDYTALK has always been more cyclical- than linear-based, maybe in some way influenced by the classical Highland pipe playing called PIOBAIREACHD. This also lends itself to the experimental techno-noise that we are currently engaged in with BAMBULE.

Are structure and control mutually inclusive?

Structure is such a crucial element of my work that I feel you need to have a strong grasp on the work to keep the structure focussed.

Does structure become an aspect of the aesthetic itself when composing?

Absolutely. It's an integral element of the work.

Is it possible to create a work of art existing independently of the aesthetic?

I have a friend who tries to make music devoid of feeling - just a series of bleeps and clicks; Sahko-like. He's trying to manouevre away from the overuse of cheap emotions by taking himself out of his music...but surely that's just another position to take...he's the tired objector-become-projector...the aesthetic is just a position...we're all somewhere looking at, listening to, tasting and touching something...even if it's nothing...

What does the term "power electronics" mean to you?

Nothing.

Does that term refer to the power of electronics, the empowerer, or a third mind?

I'm concerned with the use of all mediums to empower all people....terminologies are of little interest. I believe in praxis....

Insofar as your music goes, why do you do what you do?

Simply to communicate, to reach out and touch the otherwise untouchable...

Is chance as important as knowledge, in experimental music?

Without any doubts - at least in my world...the alliance of ideas, attitude and ability/knowledge have to be in the grip of chance...that's the essence.

Is it important, at times, not to know what you're doing, in experimental music?

I think we almost always know what we're doing even when we don't. Our paths have a sense of the familiar about them. We know where we're going...we sometimes don't know how we're going to get there, tho'...flying blind is one of the greatest pleasures I have in music.

What is your ancestry?

Highland Scottish with the tiniest tiniest twist of Welsh.

Was your heritage crucial in bringing you to where you are now with your music?

Without question...I feel a very strong sense of connection with my culture - not particularly the pop culture that permeates today, but the traditional and more resonant folk culture. It hardly relates to my work today in an external sense, but I think it's always with me internally.

Does your way of thinking about your music affect your life?

I don't differentiate between my life and my art. (It's the) same thing.

Should art be consumptive?

Art should just be...

Are people who answer questions with "yes" or "no" stupid, or just plain lazy?

Depends on the context...sometimes the questions are framed such that it forces a brief and to-the-point answer.

Does experimental music imply a separation of art and artist?

That would depend on the artist and the art. For me, it's all about ideas and what you do with them...the word "experimental" is beginning to stick in my throat at this point - it means so many different things. Really, it can't be so boxed in...

If you place the last CINDYTALK album ("Wappinschaw") alongside DANIEL MENCHE'S "Incineration," or, say, OVAL's "Systemisch" - on the surface, it looks positively rock'n'roll. But, it's just coming at the world from a different angle. We had played around with scrapings and studio abuse and wanted to take some scraps and turn them into short cyclical movements..."pretend-songs," if you will. For the opening piece on the album, I wanted to sing a classic, well-known folk song, to strip it bare and try to let people hear the essence of a song...the melody, the words, the singer and the relationship between the three. I wanted to perform it without backing and without vocal effects...I saw it as a loving thing, pure and simple...I chose to sing the melody in the simplest way, not caring to try and stamp my signature or ability on it...hoping, I suppose, that that would happen purely by nature...the reaction that particular song recieved was interesting, inasmuch as some viewed it as the purest of love song renditions whilst others found it aggressive and baiting, that I should strip so raw, a favourite, classic song. Almost like a challenge...which in a sense it was...I wanted people to listen to song, not the production or the expertise. I consider that one of the most experimental things I've ever done...it's a question of perspective.

How has your music separated you from living life?

My work is my living life. It is vast and spacious with many levels...sometimes guests even come to stay...

Does your music have an ending point?

Is that beyond tomorrow?

Do you see your work continued after you have assumed room temperature?

Is that beyond the day after tomorrow?

Who do you see today carrying the tradition of experimental music into\ tomorrow?

Well, if ye mean who I think has good ideas and who is moving forward...record labels such as Praxis, Ambush, Zero Tolerance, Sounds Never Seen, Chrome, Sahko, Mego, CFET, Unearthly, Stormcore, PCP, UFO, Future Galactica, DHR, Epiteth, Fischkopf, Audio Illusion, Anticore, Spite, Loop, Sub/Version, Explore Toi, and Widerstand.

Is the lyric tradition relevant in experimental music?

Yes...but it needs to be constantly re-defined and re-approached like all ideas and structures.

Reprinted with permission.