Purr: What category of "electronica" does your music fall into?

Colin: I hate categories, as they force you to conform to a stereotype -- perhaps some of your music doesn't fit that category, what do you do then? Some of our music could be jungle-ish in rhythm with Black Sabbath stylings on top. Which cat is that?

Purr: How did you and Pete Scullion meet?

Colin: We met at the intersection of two ley lines.

Purr: Tell me about your first live show.

Colin: Our first live show was providing ambient music at a Royal Photographic Society presentation at an art gallery in Manchester. Pete played guitar whilst I used computers and samplers. It went very well, but I don't think the art people knew what to make of us.

Purr: Do you play in clubs also, or do you strictly play art shows?

Colin: We have played in clubs at ambient and dance events. We prefer to play events rather than ordinary gigs. So far, every event we've played has featured material written for the specific event and nothing else, apart for the Monkees medley for the encore.

Purr: You are currently unsigned, right?

Colin: Yes, we're unsigned. We want to be signed. We will gladly bow down before Beezlebub's Posterior. We want to be filthy rich. We can handle it.

Purr: So you shun categorizing your music, yet you don't fear selling out?

Colin: Ideally, we'd like to put our own CD's out, but with a distribution deal. There's no point in being totally in control of your own product if you've not got the means to get it in the shops.

Purr: The title of your tape is I Changed My Dentist, I Changed Him Into a Horse, what have you and Pete got against dentists?

Colin: Bad childhood experiences with school dentists. I haven't been to a dentist in a long time. Mind you, my teeth have all fallen out.

Purr: And Pete?

Colin: Pete has no problems with dentists, but he has a deep mistrust of chiropodists.

Purr: You're from Manchester, as is Oasis. What is your opinion of them?

Colin: We're delighted to be associated with this great 90's phenomenon. Liam is an excellent ambassador for Manchester - he embodies all its key features.

Purr: What key features are those?

Colin: Liam has the simultaneous properties of inarticulation and loud-mouthedness. He has the traditional Mancunian dress sense and elegant way of moving. He gets up everyone's nose. He is a vignette of Manchester.

Purr: I'm gonna mention some musicians and songs. Give me your impression of them and any influence they've had on you. First, Syd Barrett of Pink Floyd.

Colin: A great influence. A great English composer and eccentric. Piper at the Gates of Dawn is over 30 years old and the production is still frightening.

Purr: "Revolution 9" by the Beatles?

Colin: Not a song I've listened to very much -- do you know anyone who has listened to it more than once? I'm much more influenced by "Tomorrow Never Knows" -- with all those treated and sped up tape loops arranged into the song.

Purr: The Spice Girls?

Colin: I don't think they've influenced us very much. Mind you, so-called Posh Spice regularly visits out local supermarket. Her footballer boyfriend parks his Aston Martin in the disabled parking spot.

Purr: Would you ever consider working with any of the assorted Spices after they break up and go solo?

Colin: We would only work with a Spice Girl if she was willing to compromise her artisitic integrity.

Purr: Frank Zappa?

Colin: Another main influence because of the disregard for conventional musical structures and instrumentation.

Purr: Have you ever been approached about scoring a film?

Colin: We have made music for various videos -- we were approached to write some film music then the producers decided they wanted classical music instead. We would very much like to get into film music, so if anyone out there wants to contact us...

Purr: I see from your website that you've done a video for "We Want Your Minds." Any thoughts on making the video?

Colin: The video was mainly computer animation. We sent it to "Alternative Nation," an MTV-Europe program hosted by Toby Amies, who is now on MTV-USA. He liked it and played it -- he rang us up and seemed surprised that an unsigned band had sent a video to him.

Purr: What instruments do you and Pete play?

Colin: Pete and I are both responsible for guitars, bass, synthesizers, samplers, vocals, and computers. I also play saxophone and clarinet sometimes. We also use homemade and found instruments. We built "The Thing," which is a wood and metal string instrument which we play with an E-bow. It produces Middle eastern sounds, or so we like to think.

Purr: How do you use your samples in your music?

Colin: Basically, we sample anything. I like to use samples for percussion tracks, rather than drums. We have done one track using a sample of the studio chair creaking, which works very well. It annoys me when people get samplers, which can expand the pallette of musical sounds to infinity, and then sample the drums from last week's big hit.

Purr: What's next for Big Block 454?

Colin: We've just written some music for possible use by a computer games software house -- we could use with earning some money! We have also been approached by a British indie label who want to use a track on a compilation CD. Finally, we've been approached by a Russian industrial/electronic musician who wants to collaborate with us. I suppose our main aim is to get a CD out with a decent distribution deal.

Check out samples of Big Block 454's music at their website http://www.bigblock454.mcmail.com

JOHN FITZGERALD, FitzOther@aol.com, is a junior at Pace University in New York. He recently finished his first screenplay, "The Frugal Alcoholics" and is looking for a movie deal.