Interview by Godsend Online
The Unquiet Void is the longtime solo project of Jason Wallach, who has been producing his own brand of unique and filmic electronic soundscapes for a number of years. His debut full-length CD, "Scorpio", is due for release on the Pittsburgh indie label Alterculture Records, and TUQV has already appeared on a number of compilations, including, most notably, the Projekt CD compilations, "Of These Reminders", and "Excelsis: A Dark Noel". After quite a few years of corresponding with Jason, I thought it a good time to interview him for GODSEND.

What follows is a dialogue between GODSEND and The Unquiet Void from January 1999.

GS=GODSEND's Todd Zachritz
JW=THE UNQUIET VOID's Jason Wallach
GS-Describe the beginnings of the Unquiet Void, what influenced you to begin composing your own music, etc.
JW- Watching HBO Video Jukebox as a kid in the early 80's really turned me on to electronic music. I remember seeing Gary Numan's "Cars" and David Bowie's "Ashes to Ashes" videos and feeling both fear and fascination. I've always been a very emotional and moody person and that introduced me to a way to express what's inside. That's really what got me to want to pick up a synthesizer and it was many years before I actually did. As for what influences me to compose my own music... life, my life in particular and what I experience in it. I have no other influences other than that when I'm writing and recording.
GS-Your soundtrack to the film "Scorpio" is your first true public release not including compilations. Obviously, you have quite a lot of music that hasn't been used/released. Are there plans to release any of that material?
JW- Yeah, I am planning to mix 20 of what I feel are my strongest early recordings and release them on 2 separate CD's. The discs will be entitled "From The Fading Years" and there will be a 1993 - 1994 disc and a 1994 - 1996 disc. I plan to begin work on this sometime a little later on this year. Scorpio hasn't yet come out and I'm just putting in a whole lot of time and hard work into promoting it and getting it reviewed and whatnot. But these early recordings will make up my next 2 releases. Just a note, 4 songs from Scorpio are older recordings: A Constant Looming Uncertainty - 1994 Autumn Fires - 1993 Breathing Liquid Breath - 1995 Dust - 1995
GS-How did the connection with the "Scorpio" movie come about?
JW- I had become friendly with John Brodie (writer/producer/lead actor of the film Scorpio) and I played him some music and he liked it a lot and the rest really grew from that.
GS-Your music has an epic sort of quality, almost symphonic in some ways, but often with sad overtones. Would you like to score other films in the future?
JW- Depending on the film... yes. I wouldn't go near another film like Scorpio. I don't mean to knock the film being that I'm friendly with John Brodie but I won't lie about it. I won't say anything more about the film. If I were to score a film I would want it to be an independant film being that if I were to do a mainstream film (ever) I'd be subjected to the Hollywood mentality which I don't exactly admire. The Hollywood people are always afraid to take chances on anything and when they do and it's successful they drown it or else flood the market with it and by this point you just don't care anymore. That's not the path I want to take. Besides, what are my chances of actually getting in to scoring big pictures? I think they're slim at best.
GS-Your connection and collaboration with LYCIA are documented on the "Excelsis: A Dark Noel" comp. Will you work further with them? Is there anyone else you plan to (or would like to) collaborate with?
JW- I'd love to collaborate with Lycia again, in fact, we were supposed to this past summer but our schedules conflict quite a bit. Also, Mike has had a bit of trouble with this health and that's really more important than doing the collaboration. I'll leave the option open and hope that it will happen again. As for people that I'd like to collaborate with... Conrad of Stay Frightened, Ashkelon of Trance to the Sun and Ed Kaspel of The Legendary Pink Dots.
GS-Has the Unquiet Void always been a solo project? If so, do you plan to keep it that way?
JW- I think so, yes. The only person that I have to rely on is myself and that means that the job gets done on time and done exactly the way I'd like it to. I don't see how anyone else could express my vision or my feelings... they have their own to explore. Things may change as things always do over time but for now it will remain a solo project as it has been for 10 years now.
GS-To my knowledge, the Unquiet Void has never performed live. What are your thoughts on the live performance side of things?
JW- I'm really working through some insecurity issues with myself and right now I don't have the guts to do it... I am a fairly shy person. I want to play live and I think I'd want at least 2 people to play with me on stage so that it was more of a live live show. I will do it eventually! Ultimately I'd love to work with some tribal percussionist and have that as part of a live band. Time will just have to tell what happens with that.
GS-Some of the compilations you have appeared on are very "gothic"-oriented, though your music easily transcends that stereotype/category. What are your thoughts on the whole darkwave "scene"?
JW- I've been involved in the gothic scene before and I was amazed at how almost non-existant music was to some people. Most people just wanted to look good and climb the gothic social ladder. I find that silly because music is very important to me, it soothes me and heals me... it is like blood, it surges throughout me. I personally couldn't exist without it. I'm not trying to rag anyone let alone people who like gothic music, I like a lot of music that is considered gothic. I just feel that outside displaying CD's in a record store labelling bands and music is silly. My motto is that if you like it listen to it. I'm not too familiar with a lot of the bands in the Darkwave scene, I just listen to what I like and I do love hearing new music. I really don't have an informed opinion about the Darkwave scene.
GS-You have had a side project for some time (TWILIGHTS HIDDEN PRESENCE), that has yet to be released. What has become of this? Any other side work in a different vein than the Unquiet Void?
JW- Twilight's Hidden Faces was a project that I started in 1992 to vent my more aggressive post industrial style. There were 2 EP's created in 1994: Watching the Sunrise by Moonlight & The Cloud Pain Drip Drizzle. "A Constant Looming Uncertainty" was the first song on Cloud Pain but this side project was dumped because all my music comes from me and even more than that it didn't sound too different from what I was doing in TUQV. I'd rather put all of my effort into one project and see it grow and TUQV really is my priority. I have a side project that is significantly different from TUQV called Bone Daddy. Bone Daddy was started in 1994 and I haven't recorded anything under it since 1995. I did one 4 song ep entitled The Evening Bag Collection which has not been released. Of the four songs there is a cover of Big Black's song Kerosene. Bone Daddy is a very trippy, delerious, darkambient acid (and I do mean ACID) jazz project. Maybe one day... Oh wait!! In 1997 I recorded a cover of Trance to the Sun's song Spiderlike, sorry, my bad. Again, TUQV is my priority so I'm really not thinking about these two projects at all or the material they spawned as far as releasing them goes.
GS-Your music, aside from being quite filmic and soundtrack-oriented, is very liquid in feel--flowing, shifting, and morphing itself onto different levels and melodies. Is there a good amount of improvisation involved in your composition methods?
JW- It's almost entirely improvisation. I sit down and open myself up to these machines which become extentions of me and I pour my heart and soul out. Each song captures a moment in time and I never experience anything the same way twice. When I sit down to record I'll just start messing with FX and tweaking the sounds until I find something that clicks with the way I feel and I use it and do whatever. The 1998 material from Scorpio was all entirely improv... it just came out.
GS-You have signed to Alterculture Records in Pittsburgh. How did you become involved with them?
JW- I sent Alterculture a promo CD-R of Scorpio back in mid 1998 and they contacted me saying that they'd sign it.
GS-You are lined up to appear on a Cleopatra tribute to David Bowie...how does it feel knowing that one of your tracks will likely be heard by Mr. Ziggy Stardust himself?
JW- The thought had actually not occurred to me. I think it would be great for a man whom I admire musically to hear my version of his song that has so inspired me to become a musician. I think that would be very cool if he heard it but I have no idea how he feels about tributes to him. "Ashes to Ashes" will appear on Dark Vision : A David Bowie Tribute, part 2 which is the sequel to the now available A Goth Oddity. Dark Vision comes out in late summer or fall from Wreckage Productions / Cleopatra Records.
GS-What lies in the future for the Unquiet Void, and any closing comments?
JW- Well, hopefully more compilation appearances and full-length CD's. I really want to push TUQV out there until it is recognized on a much broader scale. All I could ask for is that people like it and appreciate it and people do and that is a very rich reward to know that people can relate and like what you do and especially when it's so personal. I just want TUQV to go as far as it can go as I grow and experience life in the years to come. I've invested 10 long hard years of a whole lot of hard work into TUQV and it won't stop there, I'm going to take it much further.
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