Klayton
Klayton, born Scott Albert, is an industrial rock musician, who has performed under a variety of stage names over his career, and is best known as being the frontman for his latest project, Celldweller.
"Maybe it’s sad to say, but I simply don’t care enough about anyone else’s opinion to let it affect my life or my art. I am simply not a guy who likes to debate my ideas and it is a personal challenge for me to play every instrument and put together full tracks."
"I’m doing it (the project/band Celldweller) for me because I need to exorcise my own demons. And I guess inadvertently, this is also presented in some kind of way that people feel like they can relate to what I’m saying and apply it to their own lives. If I were to sit there and write a song that was laid out, cut-and-dry as to exactly what it means, it really narrows the scope of who can apply that to themselves and maybe relate to it. I write for me and what makes sense in my own brain, and I’m certain that even the closest people around me don’t even know what I’m talking about half the time, and that’s fine."
"I’m not saying I invented the concept (of a fan-made remix contest) by any means whatsoever because there have been plenty of people that have done it, but it was not as prevalent as it is today."
"...I land a major record deal, complete with a huge advance of $ that helped pay off tens of thousands of dollars in debt I put myself into just for the shot at making music my full time gig. The 9/11 catastrophe hits, our economy tanks and the label pulls the plug on their whole deal. They dissolve the label but were kind enough to let me know that I needed to pay them back all the $ they had advanced."
"I’m tired. Everyone reading this interview should come over sometime soon and let’s all take a nap together."
"I am in a position where I am by no means getting any assistance from anyone in high places from the outside. So having 'Cellmates' that are motivated and believe in this project has helped us tremendously. It is very much an us-against-the-world mentality and if Celldweller were to see any huge success, although that term is relative, they will have had something very direct to do with it."
"Favorite artist hands down at the moment is Imogen Heap - go get 'Speak for Yourself'. It is amazing."
"I'm not a very personal person when I speak to someone one on one or in a group. I'm very internal, not that that's a very big deal, but for me I can be creative with what I want to say without casting the pearls before the swine. I write in an artistic way. Maybe someone can read what I write and interpret it as something else for themselves. It may not be literal. I write openly so I may be exorcising my demons but someone can exorcise their own, which can be completely different than I originally intended. That's how I like to relate to artists that I listen to. I didn't write this record for anybody but me, but in doing that I find people that relate to me."
"I spent most of my adolescence in my basement studio reading manuals, making mistakes and learning from them, hence the name Celldweller."
"There was also a time where those years of conditioning affected the way I wrote my lyrics, but no longer. I live in the real world and life is not the 'bowl of cherries' I was taught it would be."
"I've confused people enough in the past with my pseudonyms and myriads of projects. I give my fans props for keeping up. They absolutely deserve medals for it and if I get time I might even bake them some cookies."
"That song (Frozen) in a lot of ways was an experiment for me. I wanted to see if I could create every synth part in the song on soft synths as opposed to hardware synths."
"After I decided to put Circle of Dust to rest, I did some other projects over a span of 5 years or so. I finally decided it was in my best interest to stop focusing on others and get back to doing my own thing, so while I wrapped up some of my other projects, I was simultaneously creating new music specifically as Celldweller, probably sometime in '98, '99."
"...in the beginning of my career... I really didn’t think anybody was going to like what I was doing. There were no pictures and I was not accessible at all. Nowadays as an artist you have to do that because if you don’t reach out to your fans, why are they going to continue to follow you?"
"I've been so guilty of doing a million side projects. I've changed my name on every one of them. It's got to the point when my own fans didn't know whether I worked on an album or not."
"I am a technology proponent. Any new gadget or technology that makes life simpler (or more complex ultimately) I'm down for. "
"You will not get a typical rock n' roll show because we are not about being a typical rock n' roll band. The performance is much more theater-based, with multimedia, video, and of course music. We’re synched to video. We build instruments specifically for the live show."
"Most of what moves me is from the European drum 'n bass of someone like Technical Itch, to the Goa/Psy Trance of Astral Projection (Israel), to just straight up great songs from Frou Frou."
"I do plan on doing more volumes for Soundtrack for the Voices in My Head and more Beta Cessions..."
"You feed people sh*tty ground beef for awhile, they forget the taste of steak. The media in general is such a disappointment that I have removed myself from it as much as humanly possible."