To uncover a bit more about our new Studio Residency artists Timothy X Atack and MrUnderwood, Watershed's Development Assistant Nicola Richardson asked them a few questions:

Tell us a bit about yourself and what you were doing before joining the Pervasive Media Studio.

Timothy X Atack: I used to work part-time in the archives at the BBC. I was there for 10 years doing my other activities in my spare time, until I quit in April. I started out in a career as a composer for film and television and I did lots of comedy series at Paramount channel UK. That’s where I began my first TV series working with Edgar Wright, who has gone on to direct Hot Fuzz and Shaun of the Dead. I toured with Matt Lucas and David Walliams for about 4 years as a transvestite pianist. I sat at the back of the stage; Matt would throw chocolates at me and every now and then David would try and dry hump me. At the same time I was, and still am, in a band called Angel Tech. I’m also a writer for theatre, film and radio and almost anything I can write for with my company Sleepdogs. The most recent thing I’ve been involved in in pervasive media is Magna Mysteria by Mercurial Wrestler who are based here in the PM Studio. I still compose; I’m composing for Sharon Clark’s project The Stick House which is also based here.

MrUnderwood: I ran a design company that I set up originally in 1999 straight out of university. About 18 months ago I took a year-long sabbatical and ended up deciding not to go back to my business. I had recently found out that 35 years of age is the average age at which your body stops producing as many cells as die so I decided it was probably time to get on and do all the things I wanted to do! While I was still with my business I was producing a lot of computer music in my studio but it turned out that I was just spending far too long making things in my spare time to actually have any spare time. I certainly didn’t have time to do what I did in my sabbatical which was learn to play the tuba. So I flipped it on its head and now I spend all of my days making music and sound art pieces, and building musical instruments. I’m also in a relatively successful tuba duo called ORE, a doom tuba duo no less!

What made you apply for the Studio Residencies at Pervasive Media Studio?

Timothy X Atack: The fact that there were so many interesting projects and people here and the idea of being in a truly open collaborative space. I think it appeals to me so much because I’ve seen the theatre scene in Bristol achieve that sort of state over the past few years. I think that when you share stuff like that everyone gets better and I think that applies here. Obviously it applies here, you can see it at work the moment you step in.

MrUnderwood: The opportunity to be put in a pure research environment. My musical instrument-building work is with a guy called David Morton who used to work for the BBC as a research engineer. He just did stuff for the sake of research but of course, if you’ve got a good work ethic, being put in that environment means that the outcomes are huge. It was the way that the opportunity was pitched as that: ‘there doesn’t have to be an outcome, if there is one that’s great but we’re going to put you in an environment that’s really creative’.

You have both decided to use MrUnderwood’s Sonic Graffiti project as the foundation for your research. Where did the idea for Sonic Graffiti come from?

MrUnderwood: Quite early on I was doing circuit bending; taking kids toys apart and re-wiring them to make weird sounds so some of the early sonic graffiti pieces were actually kids toys rehoused into boxes and left somewhere with a speaker attached to the front. I’d never thought about it as more than just some weird boxes left throughout France and Germany, then I got a commission from VIVID gallery in Birmingham and Capsule to do a number of pieces throughout Digbeth. It’s now a major focus of mine and has gone on to become very concerned with where it is, why it’s there, and what sound is on it. I’m really interested in what Tim’s already brought to it with his narrative thinking and musical background; I’ve never given any in-depth thought about what’s on these modules sonically or the reason why people interact with them.

You are only a couple of days into your residency, but do you have any specific aims for the coming months?

Timothy X Atack: We’re both generalists not specialists so we’re keen to use the knowledge, advice and influence of specialists here. That’s one of our aims and objectives because you’ve got an instrument in the shape of the Studio, why not play it? Documenting and clarifying is as important as the final physical result so both of us are keen to use the project as a stepping stone to larger ideas and projects beyond the space of these few months. Common aims in terms of content are; to use a sense of space and location enhanced, so to use sound and sonic graffiti to evoke a place and location; the identity of the instrument or instruments that we create and for it to be an actual instrument that people can play and have access to; and for that technology to have some kind of emotional resonance. That’s the big one for me: for it to have something that people attach to it, to have other stories and feelings spring from it.

Timothy X Atack and MrUnderwood will be tracking the progress of their research throughout their residency. Keep your eyes peeled on their project page to see what they are up to.