Vincent Dallas
Vincent Dallas is a solo harsh noise act from Kortrijk, Belgium. He released 8 albums in 2022, full of primal feedback and hands on pedal noise.
“Life was always heavy and full of destruction”
I got to know your work in 2022. You released eight albums that year.
Vincent Dallas: Eight releases in one year, hmm, I didn’t count them but now that you mention it. Why, I had no intention of having eight releases in one year, what an idea that would be and especially who is waiting for that? And it definitely took me by surprise and I never thought there would be any interest in Vincent Dallas. It was therefore quite crazy for me that I got the opportunity to work with eight different labels. I was already very satisfied that someone wanted to release my first tape (‘Manische Hyperaktiviteit,’ Satatuhatta -22), so for me this was already a very successful adventure.
Vincent Dallas works on a release if the demand comes from the label. From then on I’m working on that specific release, tracks, artwork. So there was no plan and probably never will be.
Do you see Vincent Dallas as a harsh noise project?
You can put the project in a niche in the world of experimental sound, put it in a box that people somewhere can easily use as a first impression when discovering certain projects or in this case the Vincent Dallas project. A guideline is and can be the extra push for the curious music lover. I don’t describe myself as harsh noise, for me it’s more like a way out from daily life. I see it as “sound.” Of course my interest in the absurd, the harder part of experimental sound appeals to me but I like a wide variety of experimental sounds and music. The more harsh and heavy sounding stuff is the bridge to the project, the sound and approach and then I use that with my own interpretation.
But I have no problem if they describe me that way. It can be anything, depending on how you look at it and fill it in. And it is great to hear feedback going all the way, some heavy crunch on top of it, contact mics against metal junk in hands, bizarre sound in the red, plug in, blast loud, lights out!
What is the interesting part about harsh noise?
I have the impression that there is a perception that is very far from reality when it comes to “noise.” Is it simple? Everyone can get started, buy the best gear, find everything online on how to create a harsh noise sound or make a drone. But that doesn’t matter at all. I’ll give you the “best” pedals, synths et cetera tomorrow
and I’ll let you make a track. What will come out…who’s to say. But you’ll hear that there is almost no feeling in it, no added value from yourself, no dedication… that’s the difference, a big difference.
Can anybody do it?
It may have been the start for many to create noise because freedom is dripping from it. There is no manual so just let yourself go, which is great. But whether you’re still working on it 3 years later is something else. It’s like in other music styles. Everyone can copy, giving it your own touch is a bit more difficult.
I know that people behind certain projects listen to a very wide range of music in all shapes and colors. They dissect the tapes, listen to feedback from other people/projects, always want to achieve that little bit more. That they take the time to work on their tracks, they build a construction with sound, try to make a decent something, sound college or a heavy filthy track fully in the red. Noise often comes first next to e.g. free jazz, doom, sound art, et cetera. It’s like that with everything, if you underestimate it, you create a mess and it won’t last. Listen to projects as Mass Marriage, N, Pain Appendix, The Cherry Point, Haemorrhaging Fetus, Jeph Jerman, Spring Of Life, Dead Body Love, Umpio, Dave Gilden, Haare or the new great ‘Mixed Noise Soup Vol.1’ tape on Satatuhatta and so on. Listen and find out what they create, what they try to achieve. Those records (and lots of other records/projects) are a document of real craftsmanship, brought with passion every time. So no, it’s not simple but sometimes simple is so much woehaha.
Nobody cares about harsh noise? So you can do what you want?
Nobody cares… hmm… There is a strong “scene”/community”. There are many podcast, labels, magazines that support full experimental/noise such as Dead Mind Records, NERF, the White Centipede Noise podcast/label/mail-order, the Satatuhatta Label, Abhorrent AD, Special Interest magazine, Total Black, Angst, Noisextra, Troubled Sleep Magazine, Noise Receptor, Scream & Writhe Forum / Scream & Writhe distro and the Absurd Exposition label, Untitled Zine, Crude Transmissions festival (Leiden, NL), the Nacrolepsia label, New Forces, et cetera. These examples only exist because the people behind them are more than passionate, dedicated to the world of sound regardless of any trends.
What is your set-up?
Contact mics taped to metal, in boxes with screws & glass, boxes of carton, a filthy Synth, tapes with homemade sound sources, distortion, fuzz, oscillators, metal junk, glass… basic stuff.
Do you work analog or digital?
Right now I record digital from a mixer into the recording thing… that’s it. All live. Analog is something I work on but I fucked up my Tascam 4 track. But like I said before and I also said that in the Special Interest Magazine 14; gear is not the most important thing… Even with a minimal set up you can go wild like the great Werewolf Jerusalem @ the HNW Fest, April 23, 2011, Instants Chavires, Paris.
You seem to release on every noise label which is relevant at this moment.
I never send tracks to labels. What I did do was release a cassette myself two years ago with two tracks and then sent it around to labels that had a distro asking if they wanted to include it in their mailorder. Labels that I think had a good distro, where I bought LPs and tapes myself. That’s how Vincent Dallas was sent into the world. Then there was a question from one et cetera-
I owe the two releases in the US to the fact that Oskar/White Centipede Noise podcast/label/mailorder came to film the first Crude Transmissions festival (Leiden,NL) for his podcast, just then released a tape of me (‘Fantoom Klank’/ WCN074) and also conducted a small interview with just about every artist who
played. The people behind the Abhorrent Ad and Cruel Symphonies label got to know me through that channel, I think, contacted me and we worked together on a release.
Like I said before it is a dedicated scene/community so if you follow and read then you know what’s going on and know what’s behind the corner and which candy there is for you…
I go for it 200%, that’s all I can do to the labels that put time and energy into Vincent Dallas. They make sure there is distribution, covers, dubbing, sending it around by email, et cetera. Much respect for every label I could work with. I’m very thankful for that.
You do Vincent Dallas as a solo thing.
Vincent Dallas is indeed a one-man project, but the very beginning, I think 20 years ago, it started as a 2 man action collective that let the appropriate live actions prevail with paint and absurd thinking. Actions that did not happen or did. The name was created by art painter Peter van Ammel (www.petervanammel.com), more than worth checking out. The cover of ‘Artiest Zonder Circus’ on Cruel Symphonies Syracuse, New York is one of his works.
You are also a record store owner.
True… Together with my wife I opened a small record store in our house in Kortrijk called Records and Things, sometime in the summer of 2020. It’s called Records and Things because, in addition to a small selection of records, we sell screen printing, paintings, sketches that Nele creates (already she is now busy with new work, exhibitions).
And every three months we give our space to befriended, small artists. This is to support them and show their work to some new people. That’s a very casual thing, usually with a little bit of planning but mostly with enthusiasm and honesty.
Our selection of records is not that big, but we try to look for diversity, just like at home. Records from labels such as Mississippi Records, Akuphone, Sublime Frequencies, Kraak, Pollard are next to Rawmantic Disaster Records, Loner Cult, Radiation Records, et cetera. From world, folk to strange and beautiful to 77 punk and crust… We do that in addition to our day job and are open on Saturdays. We’ll take it easy and see where we end up.
Joeri Bruyninckx
Headline photo: Vincent Dallas at Finland | Photo by Veikko Rajanen
