Coming out of the damp basements he was previously found in, Dr. Lotech has begun a Journey Into Light with the release of his new CD, Journey Into Light.

I caught up with Dr. Lotech in mid-August in Toronto and he agreed to give me a few moments of his time.

- Dave Bradley – August 16th, 2001
 

Part one: The Players

Dave Bradley: First off, tell me about yourself. Are you trained as a musician or self-taught?

Dr. Lotech: I started taking piano lessons when I was seven. By my twelfth birthday, my piano teacher complained to my mother that I wasn't practicing, because I was too busy writing music. I got a Farfisa organ when I was in grade 8 and joined a "rock" band at school. It was two guitars, drums and organ. We did a cover of the Outer Limits theme song that was popular with the crowd. When I was 15, I had saved up some money and bought my first synthesizer, it was a Roland SH101. I now have an emulation of that synth on my Pulsar. I got a Hohner D6 clav at one point, and a Fender Rhodes. It was a lot of gear to haul to gigs.
 
As far as training goes, I did Royal Conservatory to grade 6 and then started playing sheet music, mostly of the top 40 stuff of the late 60's and 70's. When I got the Farfisa, I took lessons from the organist at Maple Leaf Gardens.  He was a jazz guy.  I guess some of that rubbed of on me...
 
Most of what I do now comes from jamming, which was learned through repetition and ripping off other guys riffs.

DB: What instruments do you play?

DL: I guess I play keyboards. I play piano, organ, clav and synth type stuff. My brother was a drummer and he had a kit in our music room. I kinda figured out the kick/snare/hihat thing a bit. I got a bass guitar and took lessons for a while. Mostly just walking blues lines and the obligatory Steve Miller song "The Joker". At some point, I got into Blues harp. I play exactly 1 song on the guitar and it is a complete fraud...

DB: How long have you been playing?

DL: I started on the piano 36 years ago. Damn! I guess that explains why I tell my self I'm getting older.

DB: What styles do you enjoy playing?

DL: I would have to say that I enjoyed playing all the styles on the CD.  In addition, I've had the honour of doing some different stuff with other guys including Terry Draper.

DB: Do you have a favorite style?

DL: I'd prefer to say no, although I wouldn't do a very convincing job of some music. I guess I'm a blues guy with a synthesizer.

DB: Who are the following, how did they come to play on the album, and are they part of "the band" or brought in for the particular song they appear on?

DL: Some of the players used fake names to remain anonymous. It's sort of an ego thing. They withheld their names because they felt that identifying themselves is a bit of a wank. If you didn't know my real name at this point, I'd probably go along with it in support of their sentiment.

Foy Boo AKA Ffloyd Lightnin' Blooze. I've played with this guy for about 28 years. When it comes to blues guitar, Foy Boo is the genuine article. He plays in the Nuraw Blooze, (http://www.nuraw.com) along with Rod and Doug Pipher.

David C AKA Dave Cadaver.  Lead singer of the defunct Legendary Cadavers. This guy is a real beatnik. Dave's musical ability is very unpretentious.  We have done some colaboration as Buckwheat Nation that is very disturbing, like a soundtrack for a nightmare. He has worked for years with:

Gary C AKA Gary Cadaver.  Gary was lead guitar in the Legendary Cadavers. Listening to his work on Frank's House, I was very thankful to capture that track in one take, live off the floor. A classy guy with a lot of talent.

I first met Terry Draper about 13 years ago.  I was selling a Mirage sampler and he answered my ad. I took the board to his studio and we have kept in touch over the years. Since working with Terry and the Twilight Zone, we've become closer musically and you can expect more from us in the future.

Mrs. Hippie first appeared on Terry's solo and live CD's. A solo project from her is on the board right now. It will be based on a band that hopefully will do a few live shows. Everyone knows Mrs. Hippie. She is the poster girl of the flower power era, the love child of the Woodstock generation, the anti-Martha of the new millennium. She's homemade cookies and guitars by the campfire. She's the destination in my personal search for romantic completeness. She's my partner in crime.

Bill Horner is a good friend who plays a bit of acoustic guitar.  He is a mechanical genius and comes from a family of very clever people. Like myself, he had children to a women who is still trying to teach him about love. He has psychic ownership of the estranged daddy concept, and a sense of humour on backing vocal.

Richard Joudrey and I go back to high school. He played base for Toronto based Blue Peter and Rational Youth. He is a great bass player. He has been in the business a long time. He brought me into the studio with the Robert Blears project and I got him out for one with the Cadavers.

Gerry Lantaigne is a friend of David C. He is a great painter and performance artist. He came to a session with David C. and left a mark with a lyrical improv.

Doug Pipher is the sax player for Nuraw Blooze. Extremely talented and full of surprises in the studio. In these parts, when you need horns, you call Doug.

Rod Pipher is Doug's older brother.  We go back to grade 3 in public school. He plays bass with Nuraw Blooze.

DB: The credits for "Swim" list John Horne and Michael Bambrick.  I noticed they aren't listed as playing on the album, though. Who are they and how did you come to collaborate with them?

DL: Back in the '80s, we had a band called the 3BAs. John Horne AKA Jack Bailey played guitar.  Mike Bambrick played drums.  He was also known for his work with Blue Peter (along with Richard Joudrey) and the Sharks. Bruce Alexander played bass. Swim was our "signature" tune. Bruce came back for Swim and Frank's House. I am very happy with his playing and invited him back for another 3BAs cover called Mellow Toxic.

DB: Do any of the players on this disc have definitive influences or is this more a general mishmash of all things musical?

DL: Basically, I just turned everybody loose on the songs with minimal setup. Wherever possible, we used the first take.

DB: Who is Larry Cadaver and what did he die from?

DL: Larry Cadaver was second guitar for the Cadavers and the first of us to fall. Larry was a Minimal Man in the truest form. I think he was possessed by demons. I think they got him in the end.

Part two: The Music

DB: Are the varied styles to show the listening audience that you are skilled musicians who can play several styles or is it more because these are the styles that you enjoy?

DL: I think the songs just came into being such that they were in that style to begin with. There is no other reason for the different styles really.

DB: Is "Church" an anti-religion song?  Is it more anti-Lemming?  Is the term "church" used to reference a specific religion, denomination, philosophy, etc?  Or is it a term more in meaning with a group collective that has fanatical tendencies?  Or am I missing the point entirely here?

DL: I wouldn't say it's anti religious. More anti Lemming as you put it. David C. Put up the lyric on the fly. I wrote the music as a tribute to the Cadavers and then I just turned them loose. I remember a lyric David C. put up a few years ago that went "wake up you sheep". I think it's along those lines. Rather like saying that I'm a spiritual being having a human experience, and not being strict with the dogma.

DB: "Be True" - tell me a little about what this song is about please.  Is the funky syncopation in the middle of the song intentional and if so, how on earth do you play it that way?

DL: I wrote this song hoping that I would be able to talk Terry Draper into singing it. I think it and The Lake are a bit more "pop" oriented then the rest of the project. There is a bridge, where I come in with "You can't always please everyone else...". I am assuming you mean that part. I was trying to create a transition from Terry to me and back to Terry. It started as a drum beat.

DB: In "Be True" there's a high pitched voice (at 2:06) - what is it saying?

DL: I buried Draper.

DB: Isn't it true that the high pitched voice is a coded intelligence message for those governments that are smart enough to decipher it?

DL: Actually, you will notice some '50s sci-fi sounds in Louie Louie. That is "Saucer Boy" landing (at the beginning) and taking off (at the end). The high pitched sounds are actually from Saucer Boy on his approach.

DB: Who is Frank and what's special about his house?

DL: Frank Zappa. Anyone who got invited over to Frank's House got to play with arguably the greatest American composer/musician of the twentieth century.

DB: Is that Frank's basement you were in?

DL: I wish. I never got to meet the man. The song is fashioned around Patrick O'Hearn's account of how he met Frank and came to be a member of the band. I thought it a good opportunity to put Bruce Alexander to work on bass. Gary C. delivered the goods on guitar as well.

DB: I ga daboo.  Do you really?  Why?  Does this have vocals?  Everytime I try to listen to it I get lost in the groove and before I know it the track is over and I haven't noticed any vocals. Did it at one time have them?

DL: I would call this hard piano blues played "en rubato". It reveals influences of Jelly Roll Morton and Professor Longhair. It is my blues piano thing captured in one take, live of the floor, no overdubs. Sing anything you want to it.

DB: Loopo.  Not really a loopy sound to it, more of a really cool jazz feel. What does Loopo mean?

DL: It actually is just a long loop. We overdubbed guitar, bass and vocals. It just goes around and around. Loopo. It's extra distorted to make the synths stand out more.

DB: Emergence. What is emerging from where and why?

DL: Emergence from the darkness into the light. Some of it's a bit personal, but I can say that it is about hope, trust and relief of suffering.

DB: Fly. What can you tell me about this track?  What are the "healing hands" spoken of?

DL: Fly is an organ solo which I may say was influenced by the Style Council. The healing hands are a part of my life.  I am a second generation chiropractor. Chiropractic is the detection and correction of subluxation.  Subluxation is a condition of sub = less than, lux = light, it is a condition of less than full life force or light. The correction of a subluxation is the adjustment, which flows throw the healing hands. This is the Journey into Light.

DB: Funky Daddy O.  This track has an odd acoustic landscape to it, like it was recorded in mono, artificially expanded to stereo with digital technology, and then overdubbed with stereo overdubs. It's got an incredible groove that makes you want to get up and dance. What can you tell me about this track?

DL: This one was Foy Boo and I in a tribute to James Brown. There is a lot of processing involved in the sound, especially the guitar. We are happy with the way it turned out.

DB: More on Funky Daddy O.  Is that the singer's real voice or was something done to make it that raspy, gravelly sound? It's a really cool vocal.

DL: Thanks, that's me. Sometimes I growl a bit.

DB: More on Funky Daddy O.  I'm harping on this track because my kids absolutely LOVE this track (I think my wife just thinks it's weird), and I have to admit that this is probably my favorite track on the whole CD. Is there an intended audience for this track (or any other for that matter) ?

DL: Whoever likes it should listen to it at maximum volume for best results.

DB: Proof of Mount Joy.  What does the title mean? What can you tell me about this song and what made you choose to use the lyric Journey Into Light as the title for the album?

DL: I grew up in Mount Joy. This song was a tribute to the Nuraw Blooze. I wanted to get as many Nuraws as I could out to the gig.  Journey into Light is about healing, it is about enlightenment, it is about choosing peace in your life. What better place to discover that than somewhere called Mount Joy.

DB: I Wanna Be Your Daddy.  This is very jazzy, with a very NON-jazz component - scratching! What's up with that?

DL: I have two sons.  They are casualties of the Family Courts and alienation from their father. They don't even use my surname in school.  This is my affirmation to them. It is for estranged fathers everywhere. Scratch some shit or be square man. Dope beats and fresh MC's. I'm planning a dance remix that will be even more juvenile. We old farts would call it funky before we'd call it dope.

DB: The Lake.  The "sound" of this track is one of being underwater during a very surreal experience. What's this one about?

DL: I used to live on Preston Lake, about 10 minutes from Swamp Manor on the next lake over. I used an effect on the DSP Factory for one of the vocal harmonies called 'symphonic' which makes the whole thing whirl a bit.

DB: Solid A Go-Go - who does the "I'm having a flashback" voice?  Why 1969 specifically?

DL: David C. did this vocal. Woodstock was in 1969. The alleged "Moon Landing" was in 1969. People did a lot of acid back in those days. It kind of gets confusing... but I think the reference is to having an acid flashback about the Go-Go scene in 1969, hence the name Solid a Go-Go.

DB: Swim - swim from Toronto to Montreal?  I didn't know you were a newfie!  Tell me a little about this song...

DL: Swim was a live song we did in the 3BAs. It is meant to make you laugh or feel amused. There are several more verses, but I thought it was long enough the way it is. It is technically possible to swim from Toronto to Montreal because there is water, but nobody has ever gone that far. From Toronto to Buffalo yes, but not from Toronto to Montreal.

DB: Waiting - a cool combination of a pop melody with a bluesy vocal.  What are you "waiting" for?

DL: It's about that point in time where you resign yourself to the acceptance that something is not going to happen, like your girlfriend's really gone to live with Bobo or like your kid's will never call you because their mother is a psycho bitch.

DB: Louie, Louie - one of the most covered songs in the history of rock and roll / pop / R&B / blues / you name it.  Why cover this particular tune?

DL: I was working with David C. and it was time to do Louie Louie.

And finally... part three: The Instruments

DB: Can you tell me a little about what synths were used for this album?

DL: Basically, everything in the keyboard, drums, pads realm was done on my Kurzweil K2500. My setup has evolved since then. I now have a DSP Factory,APS and Pulsar system on my computer with VST instruments and tons of effects. The next project you hear from me will be a level better in sonic quality.

DB: Thank you for your time!  It's been a pleasure talking with you and I really enjoy the album!

DL: I want to thank you for taking the time to do this David. As always, it is an honour.


And there you have it!

This album is all over the place in terms of styles. There are tracks that I would deem "experimental" in a psychedelic kind of way, like "Church", "Solid A Go-Go" and most definitely Dr. Lotech's rendering of the classic, "Louie, Louie".  At the same time there are tracks that definitely have a blues feel to them, like "Frank's House", and "I ga daboo".  Still others are in a more melodic, almost pop vein, like "Be True", "The Lake", and "Waiting". There's a heavy jazz influence on pieces such as, "Loopo", "Emergence", "Fly", "Proof Of Mount Joy", "I Wanna Be Your Daddy", and "Swim".

If you are into things that aren't part of the mainstream top40 repetitive no-longer-artistic and certainly getting more and more boring by the minute sound, I strongly recommend you pick up this disc.  If you are into the blues or if you're into jazz, there's something here for you too!  And the more far out you like your music, the more this disc is going to appeal to you.  Pick one up today!

- Dave Bradley, August 16th, 2001