By: Chris Stead

From the dark streets of San Diego at night comes Noir Project. A project started by William Wall in 2006, the sound and vision of the band has gone through some growing pains and a few revisions. Now William has set his sights more clearly on the target and is working to match reality with his vision. Dressed in a suit and tie, William is encouraging a classy look in what can be a dirty landscape known as modern goth-influenced electronic music. So, suit pressed and freshly re-wired electronics in hand he heads off to meet the world head-on.

Gothic Angst Webzine (GAW): How did Noir Project start?

William Wall (WW): I started Noir Project after I quit a Synth-pop band called Emodica… It was so important for me to write and record songs without someone else trying to tell me how to do it. It became a real band when my friends Ken Fiedler and Erik Coe joined up for the live shows.

GAW: What phases and sounds has the project gone through?

WW: I think Noir Project started with a bit of an identity crisis. I had come out of a Synth-pop band, but I was interested in Goth-Industrial style pop. Much in the vein of Apoptygma Berzerk and NIN. Unfortunately, the songs weren’t consistent with each other… Some were very 80’s, and some were more industrial, or both. There’s not too much of the early stuff I’m proud of, but I have a good idea of where to take it now.

GAW: What was the initial motivation of Noir Project?

WW: I have always been into electronic music, but I was really clueless on how to apply it to a live show. I think I really dove into the idea when I saw Depeche Mode’s “101’ film. When you see a band as big as that using a backing track onstage, you don’t feel so guilty about trying it. As far as the music goes, I decided to take my passion of film and put it to music. A lot of the songs I write are based on a film. Never literal, but just borrowing an emotion I get from it. One exception though… With “Dark City”, I just borrowed the title… the content has nothing to do with the film.

GAW: What are the influences behind the sound now?

WW: Firstly, film. Everything from “The Elephant Man” to “Rebel Without a Cause” to”1984”. As an example, in “The Elephant Man”, David Lynch used industrial machine sounds in a large portion of the film, where any other director would have put a score. The effect of it was astounding… it was so ominous and depressing, and I was amazed on how noise could have such an emotion imact. Of course, there’s musical influences as well, but those aren’t quite as interesting. I’m making an effort to get my inspiration from things that aren’t musical… it’s a lot more fun that way!

GAW: When can we expect a full release from Noir Project?

WW: Yes, but the terms of which aren’t known yet… I might release one independently, unless the demo mailings go well, and I get a decent deal from a record company. I’m not holding my breath though!

GAW: What are your tour plans for the near future if any?

WW: Ideally, Europe! But that seems a little far out there at the moment. Once I get the album together, I’ll definitely put together a SoCal tour to support it.

GAW: How has the look of Noir Project developed as the sound has changed?

WW: The music has become more moody and punctuated, so we’re trying to find a darker shade of black to wear. Kidding aside, we made a conscience effort to put our “Film Noir” image onstage… more of a “Goth” version of a suit and tie. We considered building stage props that would make the stage look like a dark city street, but we didn’t think clubs would appreciate a 6 hour set-up!

GAW: What can we expect of Noir Project in the future?

WW: More interesting music! I just got my first sampler… it’s an Emax 12 bit sampler. It’s the same one Trent Reznor used on “Pretty Hate Machine”. That, and I’ve begun to build my own synthesizer… I’m about halfway done with it… and it’s called the “TRONsynth”. I just know it’s going to sound 80’s, so I had to name it after “Tron”. I’ve also gotten into circuit-bending… which is great for creating new sounds. I recently hacked a Fischer Price karaoke machine, which give’s a great “robotic” effect on vocals. I used it on “Lust”, which you can hear on myspace. Other than that, I’m just concentrating on the studio end of things… I’m still setting up my new studio, then I’m off to the races. I’m always updating things on myspace, and I’ll be sure to put up tour and album info as it comes. Thanks for the chat!