Some of you may be discovering his talent for the first time and others, like me knew him from his previous days (or nights) as Rogue Neon! Either way he's an incredible talent that deserves a platform and I was only to delighted to give him this space.
Ectoplague is the Dark synth brainchild of Nottingham's John Michael Lowe and his 1st album dropped in April 2020 to good acclaim . I took the time to find out a little bit more about the man behind the music. Read on...
Tell us a little about you, where you’re from and how you got started in Music?
I grew up in the Nottingham countryside. The music teachers I had were okay but they didn’t know how to inspire, all they wanted were students who’d been forced into lessons to fill their school band. No one in my family was musical so I had to slowly find my way there over
the years. Befriending musicians was the best thing to happen to me, I’m only sorry it didn’t happen when I was younger.
How has your sound developed over the years? & has the current market been of
any influence in that?
My sound has developed with guidance, practice and a little experimentation. I still try to write for me, I mean I have to listen to the music repeatedly so for my sanity it has to be something I like. I want my stuff to be original, as far as I’m concerned, so I try my best to
make sure I don’t subliminally copy a single thing, I’ve got that annoying musician’s trait in which I second guess every riff.
How would you describe the music you make?
Somewhere between 80's horror themes and video game boss fights.
How has your 2020 been? With the Gig situation how have you managed to stay
reasonably sane?
I’ve just become a father so sanity and sleep are out to lunch, but I love it, and I can’t wait to do some gigs of my own. Thankfully my album’s been fairly well received, so the little amount I made on sales has helped tide us over.
Who are your influences in music today? Who did you listen to when you were
growing up?
Well in terms of contemporary, Perturbator and Dance With The Dead were the ones who first revitalized my passion for music in general. When I was growing up I mostly depended on theme tunes and video game music to make me happy. It was the 90's and I didn’t like grunge, brit-pop or trance
Tell us your best and worse gig experience?
Best was Dance With The Dead and LeBrock. I’d driven three hours to London and by some miracle I’d found cheap parking, just a two minute walk from the venue, show was amazing and I got to meet the artists. I think the worst gig I ever went to was one I actually played at, the sound engineer was a moron and just abused everyone who went on the stage,
even between sets with the audience in presence. Really unprofessional and just generally cringe-worthy.
Is there anything new you’re working on currently that you’d like to share a little
bit about?
I’ve got plans for three albums but I’m not sure which one to work on first. One is Sci-Fi horror themed, one is more eerie and Halloween-esque, the third is a very dark narrative driven album based on extreme horror.
If you couldn’t make the great music you are making today what would you be
doing?
I like to bring stories into my music, I still write so I’d probably be doing horror novels.
Favourite Movie and why?
Starship Troopers, for me it’s just a perfect blend of over the top Verhoeven violence, cool spaceships and wacky action, it has a lot of heart too.
How do you feel about the popularity of the Synth Genre as a whole and the new
Generation of Producers who keep evolving?
When anything grows it gets gatekeepers and trolls attributed to it’s internet fandom. Doesn’t matter to me really, what I love is being spoiled for choice on good music. It makes it more competitive, but if you really love making the music, you won’t let that stop you.
Please consider supporting Ectoplague via the following links:
Bandcamp: https://ectoplague.bandcamp.com/
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/3VbhKcsAqUUy3pSHjHCX4Q?si=kCyKcGvZTJeUTtA9HOCENw
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Ectoplague/