Assemblage
23 got its start in 1988, when at a Depeche Mode concert, founder Tom Shear
heard the opening DJ spinning industrial dance music. Prior to hearing this
type of music, Shear had been creating primarily synth-pop and post-punk type
music, as well as playing bass in a punk band. Hearing industrial music for
the first time proved to be something of an epiphany for Shear, as he had finally
found a form of music that combined the electronic sounds he loved from his
synth-pop background with the heavier, darker aggression punk represented.
Prior to discovering industrial,
Shear recorded at home under the moniker Man On A Stage. The music of Man on
a Stage was very simplistic and poorly constructed, as are most musician's first
attempts. At this point, the majority of the music was instrumental as Shear
was too intimidated to try singing very often. As time went on, however, vocals
became a regular part of these early tracks. At the same time Shear was playing
bass for a punk-influenced band with some friends from high school. This band
(who changed names with almost every gig, but was known collectively as the
Advocates) would provide Shear with his first ever live performance experiences.
When Shear entered college,
he was doing Assemblage 23 almost exclusively, but soon ended up collaborating
with two friends, Mike Ukstins and Matt Guenette, on music as well with the
hope of doing some live performances eventually. The music Shear did with Ukstins
and Guenette treaded more back to the-synth-poppier side of the spectrum, but
as time went on, became more aggressive as Shear's interest in industrial grew.
The group (who was also impaired when it came to choosing a proper name... Procession
was the one that stuck the longest) would never end up performing live, but
the practices provided Shear with still more performing experience that would
prove valuable further down the road.
Who were some of Assemblage 23's early influences?
First and foremost, Depeche Mode probably had more to do with
Tom Shear getting into electronic music than anyone else. Not only was the band
Shear's introduction to electronic music, but indirectly, they also served as
Shear's introduction to industrial dance music.
During Shear's initial interest in electronic music, some of the favored bands
included New Order, the Cure, Fad Gadget, early Human League, & Soft Cell.
At the same time, Shear had an affinity for punk music and was a big fan of
bands such as the Clash, the Buzzcocks, the Sex Pistols, the Circle Jerks, and
others. As Shear's interest in electronic grew, he began discovering some of
the less accessible electronic composers such as Phillip Glass and Carl Stone,
as well as becoming addicted to just about anything that came out on the then-thriving
Wax Trax! label.
Yes. In 2007 Shear released the limited "Early, Rare, and Unreleased 1988-1998" in conjunction with the US tour for "Meta". The CD was an overwhelming success prompting the release of a second volume of early rarities entitled "Early, Rare, and Unreleased Volume Two" in 2009.
Live,
Tom Shear is augmented by Paul Seegers on keys and Kevin
Choby on electronic drums.
In the past, Gale Force has also appeared onstage playing keys for A23. Finally, at the first ever A23 live show in Indianapolis
in 1996, Mark Anquoe aka Mark 27 of the San Francisco-based band Terminal
(now known as Dead Language) provided live keys in addition to Seegers
and Choby. On occasions when A23's regular live members were unable to make it, Shear has been backed up by Holger of Collapsed System, Till of Beborn Beton, and Daniel of Haujobb.
What collaborations has Assemblage 23 done with other artists?
Although Shear generally
prefers to work alone, there have been some collaborations with other artists.
The first of these was very
early on in A23's existence. In 1995, Shear was asked to provide vocals for
a few tracks for Anthony Schonek's skElEtOn kEy project. skElEtOn kEy's music
is difficult to describe, but is a mixture of dark ambient sounds with the clangorous
din of struck metal and various bits of industrial machinery (Schonek worked
in the auto industry and made his own samples of the assembly line...). The
vocals on these tracks were often treated heavily and were a bit more experimental
in nature than those in A23. Schonek also contributed the lyrics, which are
again different than the typical A23 track. If you can find a copy of the "Construction
No. 009" compilation from Arts Industria Records (it's long out of print),
you can hear the collaboration on the skElEtOn kEy track "speakeasy.vox"
Later, in 1997, Shear wrote the lyrics and did the vocals for a track
by Manhole Vortex, a project of Paul Seegers and Kevin Choby who many
know as A23's live keyboardist and drummer respectively. The track,
entitled "Realm of the Senses" was a study of man's constant quest to
escape reality through technology. The track was done via mail, since
Shear and his bandmates lived halfway across the country from one
another. Unfortunately, a miscommunication lead to the vocals being
placed in the wrong places on the song, thus throwing off the timing.
You can hear the track on Manhole Vortex's debut CD "Agents of
Goldstein" on Arts Industria Records if you can find a copy of it -
it's also out of print.
That same year, Shear's
good friend Scott Sturgis (Pain Station/Converter) asked him to write lyrics
for a song on his album "Disjointed" (COP Intl). The result was "Grovel" - a story of revenge set to seething, heavy beats.
Shear's next collaboration wouldn't come for some time. Around 2001 or so, he
provided lyrics and vocals to DJ Ram's Virtual Server project.
It wasn't much longer after that that Shear's old Gashed! labelmate Alex Matheu (Negative
Format) approached him about providing lyrics and vocals for his new Parallel
Project. The concept of Parallel Project is similar to Virtual Server... One
person creates the music (in this case Mr. Matheu), and then have other various
singers from the scene provide the vocals and lyrics. The track, "Explicit"
was released both as an album ("Fusion" on Sector 9 Studios) and a
single ("Explicit" on Out-Of-Line Records).
In 2005, upon completion of Assemblage 23's "Storm" album, Shear was asked to provide vocals for a song called "Return" by the charity project Bruderschaft. The track has yet to be formally released (a remix was released on an Alfa Matrix compilation), but is hoped to come out in the near future.
In 2007, shortly after the US Tour for Assemblage 23's "Meta" album, Shear provided harmony vocals for the Essexx track "Under Cover".
Finally, in 2008, Shear collaborated midwest noisemeister Caustic on the track "Formula 420" under his Nerve Filer moniker.
At the moment, the only Assemblage 23 side project is Nerve Filter. Ironically, it was this project that represented Shear's first official releases via the 2004 compilation "Death Rave 2010" on the now defunct 21st Circuitry label. Nerve Filter also appeared on the follow-up compilation "Dark Techno 1-9-9" and did a remix for the band Scar Tissue. A full-length cassette entitled "Evasion of Primacy" was completed around 1995 and a handful of copies were circulated to magazines, radio, and Shear's close friends. The project went on hold for a few years after that as Assemblage 23 began to demand more of Shear's time. It wasn't until 2001 that Shear returned to the project, this time in the form of a remix for the band Converter (although the track wasn't released until 2003). Shear decided to revive the project in 2004, testing the waters with a track called "Beneath a Bed of Wet Leaves" for the "Re:Sound" compilation on Auricle Media. A full-length album entitled "Linear"was released in 2005 on Shear's own 23db Records. After completing remixes for Prospero and Router, Shear retired the project again. No more releases from the project are planned.
Not a thing. When Shear
changed the style of music he was writing in a more industrial direction, he
felt a name change (from the previous Man on a Stage) might be appropriate.
He liked the idea of a name that combined letters and numbers because it had
a nice ring to it, as well as lending itself well to logo designs and graphic
treatments. Therefore the name 'Assemblage 23' was born almost randomly. After
he had the name for awhile, the hype around the number '23', which Shear had
previously been unaware of, came to his attention and provided years of frustration
as everyone who showed interest in the band invariably asked "So what's
the deal with the number 23 in your name anyway?" However, at this point,
A23 had received some attention and rather than undo a lot of hard self-promotion
and change the name, Shear kept it and will probably forever be cursed to answer
this question until he dies.
Ensoniq EPS-16+ Sampling
Workstation Roland VS-840 Digital 8 Track Hard Disk Recorder AKG C3000 Microphone Art Tube MP Microphone Pre-amp Crappy old Sony stereo speakers for monitoring
Surface: "I shall rise like a phoenix from the ashes and stand triumphant
before the world!" -
Leprechaun 4: In Space
Coward: "I just feel... I don't know what I feel. You know? I don't feel
anything."- Trees Lounge "I wish you'd
just tell me the truth for once!" - Trees
Lounge "You fucking
coward!" - Evil Dead 2 "I fucking trusted
you!" - Trees
Lounge
Disappoint: "Do you believe in the nobility of Suicide?" "No." - In
the Line of Fire
Sample
sources for Defiance (2002)
Opened: "Abre los ojos... open your eyes..." -Vanilla
Sky Blindhammer: "There is a time to be
born... and a time to die... a time to embrace... and a time to refrain
from embracing... a time to build up... and a time to tear down... a time
to love... and a time to hate... a time to kill... burn... bludgeon...
and mutilate! (screaming) - Straight
to Hell
File-sharing has undeniably become a big problem for the music industry and that is unlikely to change any time soon. Especially for a scene as small as ours, the impact of file-sharing has been significant. In recent years we've seen music magazines, record stores, and record labels disappearing at an alarming rate. Legitimate digital services such as iTunes have helped lessen the blow a bit, but the rise in digital sales is so far not even close to the loss of sales due to piracy. The bottom line is, if you like a band, the right thing to do is to actually buy their releases. Recording and releasing an album is expensive and those costs have to be recovered somehow if an artist is to be able to continue releasing material. At the very least, if you don't buy a band's music, show your support in other ways such as buying merchandise or attending live shows.
I can't find Assemblage 23 releases in my hometown. Where can I buy them?
A few years ago, a 'Store' section was added to this website,
which will take you directly to the Assemblage 23 Online Store where
you can buy all of A23's releases, as well as lots of cool shirts, etc.
If you have a credit card, or even just your checking account's ATM
check card, or Paypal account, you are all set. Even if you don't, try writing to the
band to see if other arrangements can be made. We want to make it as easy
for you to find the releases as possible. Of course, for those of you
who prefer to buy your music digitally, all of Assemblage 23's releases
can be found on iTunes and a variety of other legal download services.
Although many
people seem to want to pronounce the name as if it is French
(ah-sem-blahj 23), the proper pronunciation is the English (uh-sem-blej
23).
Frequently Asked Questions 
