Contrastate Quotes

Although we stated that Contrastate's early music was based on noise and volume, I would not describe the music as power electronics. The sound sources used were for example: the base frequencies from a didgeridoo, high frequencies from glass, keyboards etc, all played at high volume. It was very much a physical bombardment of sound. We played one or two live performances but nothing was ever released in this form. The nearest example of what we used to do in our recorded work would probably be As Time Began on the first album Seven Hands Seek Nine Fingers. Although I was interested in groups like Whitehouse, Ramleh etc from the power electronics scene, I had no desire to repeat exactly what they had done.
Stephen Meixner

The move towards a more atmospheric form of music was more of a natural progression than anything else. Inspiration or ideas can come from films, literature and/or society. At the moment, the ideas behind the new recordings for the forthcoming CD A Live Coal Under the Ashes come from my interest in the political and social structure in Eastern Europe.
Stephen Meixner

I dislike using tags but I find you generally have to use them or people use them to describe your music. "Experimental music" is just a tag, and yes, it does cover a wide range. I use the term "experimental" because we are not an industrial or noise band. Also, we are experimental in the sense that we like trying out different ideas, different ways of recording and different ways of using instruments. I would like to think that Contrastate does not stand still but that each release is different and a progression from the last. In that respect, because the term "experimental" does cover a wide range it does serve a purpose in that it does not immediately define our music as belonging to one fixed area of music or another.
Stephen Meixner