Page 57 - Zone Magazine Issue 006

Michael - I've always made Techno and I've always loved Techno but I also love melodies and found in the last year what I'm good at, it’s just all clicked into place. I've been making tracks for years and never finished anything or never really happy with anything, but its moving along nicely now, and I’m happy with it.
How does the illegal downloading of digital music affect what ‘Cut Once’ and the electronic music scene are doing, is there any money in it anymore, and has the relative ease of releasing digital tracks online lowered the quality of what’s produced? Michael - It’s not the same now, the majority today, and I'm guilty of this also, don’t buy albums and listen to them anymore or plenty who don’t buy music at all. I used to go into town (Dublin) with a bit of cash when I was younger and go to Spin Dizzys and places like and go and put the headphones on and listen and think, ‘I can’t wait to get this home to listen to it’. It is very hard now with such a volume of stuff available to people it’s hard to target people to listen to your music as it’s a grab and go attitude now, and they'll probably just listen to 10 seconds of it anyway and skip it instead of taking the time to go through it and appreciate it, as some of the albums I used to listen to years ago took me probably 10 listens to get a feeling or understanding of the whole thing. Ash - It’s very different now very, people ask me and say why are you involved with music now as there's no money in it anymore. You think you have to love it , love what you’re doing as there's nothing like producing a track or performing it live and getting the reaction back, or finishing a track and getting it mixed and mastered and getting it back and listening to it, to me that's better than any money. We genuinely love what we’re doing and would never change, even if people were saying you should do this sound or that to get us out there, and yeah it’d be great to be out front and in that market one day, but we'll stay true to us and keep pushing it our way.
2015 has been a big break out year for you both. What are Cut Once’s next big project / collaborations / Album plans for the future?
Michael - We are so lucky as our first release 'Institution' only went out in March this year and since then we have played Body and Soul and Electric Picnic, we just need to get back to writing new stuff and then we’ll get back in the studio and keep tipping away and the material comes.
Ash - We are just gunna keep working really really hard writing and producing new tracks and try and push as much as we physically can, the most important thing is to keep writing, and getting Tristan and Ger to produce more amazing video's like the two they have already done for us this year on ‘Institution and Playing with Fire’, as I think it’s really important that our videos reflect our tracks and the lads have certainly done that, and just floored us with their amazing creative ideas.
Video Production
How did the video shoot for Cut Once’s Debut track ‘Institution’ come about, and
what’s your relationship to the band?’ Tristan - I originally met Ger (Gerad Walsh) when he directing me on a short film, after which we shot a few music videos together and then he cast me in a feature film. I had written a short film and Ger edited it and shot some of the opening and closing takes. I'd never directed anything before and Mic (Michael - Cut Once) had a track and said what do you think of this and can you do anything with it? I got an idea and feel of the track after listening through it a couple of times , as an image of an urban setting, and we adopted it and Ger just kept it lose and we got a load of dancers involved, as my flat mate teaches dance, and sorted a location and basically shot the shit out it haha. Ger constantly comes up with the beautiful shots, that aren't always planned or scripted they just happen, happy accidents and the best things come out of compromising, all we need is the camera and we let it roll. We all work really well together were a good creative bunch.
Ger - The lads (Cut Once) love what we’re doing even if we did something shit they'd still love it ahahah. With regards to editing their video, and Tristan doesn't like this as the process can be laborious, he falls asleep anyway ahah, but I like it and do a first pass of the whole video on my own to get the editing done right through, and then wake him up get and we just pick it apart together. Like Mick (Cut Once) likes the shapes of sounds, I like to skim through and pick the best moments and then work away with them until it all comes together. I'm pretty quick with the edits, and use final Cut Pro 10 it works for me and I'm happy out with the results.
Music videos
Institution –
Director: Tristan Heanue Produced by Cut Once & Tristan Heanue Director of Photography & Editor: Gerard Walsh Camera op: Kyllian Nicholl
https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=981IrnerX4c
Playing with Fire –
Director: Tristan Heanue Produced by Tristan Heanue & Cut Once Director of Photography: Gerard Walsh Editors: Gerard Walsh & Nuno Batista Camera Operator: Kyllian Nicholl
https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=YPnnAASJgNo
https://soundcloud.com/cut- once-1 https://www.facebook.com/Cut- Once-293473867523762/? fref=ts
Words by Mike Moggi Mannix Pics Keith McGovern
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