When it comes to ordinary, Thomas Fec (a.k.a. Tobacco) is anything but. The mastermind behind the electronic synth-pop band Black Moth Super Rainbow and his solo-project Tobacco, Fec uses analog synthesizers and tape machines to capture his unique, genre-bending sound. In 2009, BMSR went on an indefinite hiatus. Now, as the BMSR website succinctly states: “We’re Back.” In July, we talked to Fec about the new U.S. tour in September (which will bring BMSR to Off Broadway September 12), the reason behind the return, and what lies in store for Tobacco and BMSR.
St. Louis Magazine: As your website states: “We’re back.” Was Black Moth Super Rainbow’s two-year hiatus a mutual decision?
Thomas Fec: It was mainly my decision. I think everybody would have loved to have kept doing it, but it felt like there was a dark cloud over the project as a whole. Some of the people in the band aren’t there anymore, and the last record that came out [Eating Us] I wasn’t very happy with. I half-assed the way I wrote it, and I was really, really, extremely disappointed in myself. It all left a bad taste in my mouth. I just wanted to end it. So I worked on Tobacco instead.
SLM: Was their any plan to return to BMSR later in your career?
TF: There were no plans. I guess I always kind of knew that we’d give it another go if certain circumstances were different. I didn’t realize it would be so soon, maybe even soon enough that people didn’t realize we were gone. There’re just four of us now, and we all get along pretty well. For the first time in a long time, we’re actually looking forward to spending time with each other on the road.
SLM: You were pretty busy during your time off, working on your solo stuff Maniac Meat and Mystic Thickness. Your solo work and BMSR are two very different sounds; can you explain the differences and what you are trying to achieve musically with both projects?
TF: Both of them are me just sitting there. I like to set a mood with these records. The reason I have them as two completely different projects is because I don’t want to break that. I don’t like to listen to albums that I have to skip through to listen to certain things because bands are just good at certain things and at other things they’re not. There are these two sides of what I try to get across. With Black Moth it’s always been about, whether people agree with me a lot, trying to make my version of pop music. It has just really strong melodies that people can grab onto, and it usually ends up being a little lighter and a little easier for people. The Tobacco stuff is always a little scarier. I guess the undertone is a lot freakier, and I don’t like mixing those two things. I think if I start putting some of this Tobacco s**t into these Black Moth records, it would just blow. Blow completely. That’s the main difference. Otherwise it’s just me, sitting in a room working on both of these things. Right now I’m working on a Black Moth record and a Tobacco record simultaneously, and I don’t really go into it knowing what’s going to go where. It’s just sort of the way it turns out.
SLM: Growing up, were you interested in electronic music, or was it a journey to arrive at the genre you’re in today?
TF: It took a while, because I just didn’t know. All I had when I was a kid was a guitar, delay petal, and a four-track and I just did as much as I possibly could with that stuff, and it wasn’t until I got a job that I could afford to seek out some of this other stuff. That’s really the only reason I got into the synths. I thought, at least at the time, that I could get a lot more out of it than I could a guitar, and I think that maybe I’m shifting back a little now. It will be a while before I’m just a guitar.
SLM: Would you say that this new Tobacco album, Spirits of Perversion (title subject to change), or the new BMSR album, Psychic Love Damage, features you returning to guitar or are they still very electronic?
TF: [On Tobacco] There seems to be a lot of wild fuzz bass, so far. It’s a lot more like a couple of the rowdier songs on Maniac Meat. The Black Moth record is more “synthy” and happier. I think they are both diverging farther from each other.
SLM: You make a point that you use pre-digital electronic equipment when recording albums. Have you ever been tempted to mess around with digital equipment?
TF: I’m not setting out to get the vintage sound or anything. More than anything, I hate all these bands that just sound like they existed in the ‘70s. That stuff is really annoying because if I want to hear that stuff I’ll just listen to the guys that did it better in the ‘70s. So that’s something I never set out to do. I wish I could use digital stuff, but it just doesn’t sound real to me. It just doesn’t sound good. I think there’s a huge difference between hearing sample instruments or the new Moogs how they just sound plastic. The difference between that stuff and the old stuff, where it’s just electricity running through circuits, and that’s what your hearing. That old stuff is so much more like playing a guitar than it is like the new synths that try to sound like them. I wish someone would fix that because I don’t want to use this old s**t because it’s kind of annoying. It sucks to have to send something in to get fixed. I don’t own a lot of stuff. It seems that with every album I make I need to find a new way to work with the new way [the synths] are breaking down. I have to adapt each time.
SLM: Your entire catalog screams experimental. Is it essential to have a curious mind when writing songs?
TF: Kind of. On Eating Us [A Black Moth Super Rainbow album], I wasn’t really worried about experimenting; I just kind of painted by the numbers on that one. That’s probably why I’m so down on that record. It seems like I have more fun when I’m searching for new sounds I haven’t used before. That’s why I like Maniac Meat [an album he did as Tobacco]. It’s one of those records where it’s going to be hard for me to follow it up. There’s so many new things that I found just playing around on that album. It’s still, to me, my favorite work.
SLM: What is the most challenging part when making an album for you?
TF: I guess the most challenging part is trying to condense all the ideas into something that people can listen to without getting tired of. I think in the past I’ve gone on a little too long. Sometimes songs get scrapped and those ideas go into different ones. It’s hard to hear things, when working alone, to step back and hear it from someone else’s point-of-view.
SLM: So are you excited to be writing music and touring again with Black Moth Super Rainbow? Is it a tough transition to move from solo artist back into a group again?
TF: No. Because essentially behind the scenes, it’s exactly the same. It’s just me. On stage its starting to get similar too because Black Moth is down to a four-piece and Tobacco is up to a three-piece. It doesn’t really feel different. Tobacco sets are a little more energetic where Black Moth you kind of sit back and scratch you chin.
SLM: So Black Moth shows are usually unconventional. What are some things you do onstage to accompany your music?
TF: We used to do a lot of video, but we’re not going to do that anymore. I think we are going to look a little more like a normal show, but I think the instruments and the way things are arranged on stage might not be like a normal show to some people. The projections are going to be different. We are going to try to put you in a setting, rather than try to throw these images at you. Unlike Tobacco sets where throwing images at you is a little more called for, these Black Moth sets are lighter and mellower, so we are going to try to put you in a setting with the song. So hopefully that works out.
SLM: Would you say overall you’re excited to be touring with BMSR and working with them again?
TF: Yea. The energy is definitely lighter this time. I would normally dread going out on tour, well I’m never really excited to go on tour, but at least I’m not dreading it this time. I think it will actually be pretty nice.
SLM: Of all the different bands, albums, and sounds that you’ve experimented with over the years, is there a particular album or song that defines your music the best or is it constantly changing?
TF: Maniac Meat. Like I said before, that’s one for me that shattered everything I had done up to that point. I’m doing this new Tobacco record, and I got these songs I really like, but it’s going to be really hard to hit that. Whatever that chord was, that’s the record for me. I might be the only one that feels that way, but that was just everything. That was all of my influences up to that point—me finally getting to where I wanted to be.
