Analog
Data Enterprises To Publish New Band
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| Chris Topaz (Chris Bertram) learned music at an early age in private school as a prodigy and later at college managed a band that won The Battle of the Bands in Sacramento. He played keyboard music during the station breaks for a college cable T.V. station in Oakland. Later he started a circulation 10,000 tabloid in The Bay Area that focused on music. A solo music project that started as a feasibility study started charting online in the popular mp3 format and he named the project Alien Sex Cult. Alien Sex Cult was his nickname in college that refers to the polytheism belief in extraterrestrial intervention in the affairs of the evolution of mankind. |
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It's Chris Bertram, Producer:
""Alien Sex Cult," was a nickname that did not stick to me in college, but became a curious moniker. The band's unique alternative rock sound grew out of experimental synthesizer sounds I helped produced at a college cable T.V. station, Peralta Colleges Television. The station manager needed music between shows, so I improvised and used previous band management experience for a band that had won Sacramento's KZAP's "Battle of the Bands."
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"I became interested in Electronic Music while taking music theory and electronics at community college. I've always made prototype sound oscillators, and grew familiar with the attack, decay and sustain portion of a sound. I learned that every sound has an envelope and that electronic sounds may or may not be based on natural sounds.”
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"In College at American River College, in Sacramento, I took music and helped manage a band called Panther that played local shows in the Bay Area and Sacramento. The band had won a battle of the bands competition. Later I started a newsprint magazine and tabloid Bay Area Rock Magazine while I lived in Oakland and attended Merritt College in Oakland and transferred to San Francisco State University. The magazine allowed me to interview countless bands and gain backstage access to clubs with press credentials for music. At San Francisco State University I took music: Rock Since the 1960s, and The Roots of Rock and released a debut album that was signed to iTunes, an online music store managed by Apple. The album was recorded at The California Recording Institute where a graduating class wrote papers on the band and engineered a recording session on the band first called T.Y.N. Research. The band recorded further on two inch tape at Woo Woo Productions in Marin County and transitioned to the band: Alien Sex Cult. Further recordings were done in digital at Studio132 in San Francisco the home of: The Hot Tuna Studios, the studio from the former Jefferson Airplane, and also a favorite recording spot for Britney Spears. Partial mastering was done at Fantasy Records Studio in Berkeley by George Horn the golden ear of Fantasy Records. Fantasy Records home of Credence Clearwater Revival and recording studio for Aerosmith, and Fleetwood Mac is in the process of mastering an entire album for the band. I built a website with promotional materials and some of the songs began charting on websites such as mp3.com. When a song hit number one at mp3.com, I called a producer of Eagles legend Don Henley: Steve Jankowski. I asked Steve to produce a horn section for Sentimental Places a strong contender of Alien Sex Cult and he produced the horn section. Steve Jankowski has toured with Aretha Franklin and numerous big named talents. The debut album "Electronics in the Orchestra," is available at iTunes for music download and available at over 200 outlets worldwide."
There have been Paranormal experiences on this band since the beginning and that is what brought the name change. It was T.Y.N. Research before it was Alien Sex Cult. One of the first drummers started hearing voices and never came back because he was too afraid for his immortal soul. He thought continuing in the band would forsake his soul. |
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"I produced, played guitar, synthesizer and engineered Alien Sex Cult. I also composed all of the songs under ASCAP in bands for this album under T.Y.N. Research, and Alien Sex Cult. The album Electronics in the Orchestra is protected by a Library of Congress Copyright 2005..."
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Chris Bertram Key responsibilities: Album Engineering: Custom Synthesizer and Software, Production, Vocals, Lyrics, Songwriting, and Session Musician. listens to: Various Classic Rock, Modern Rock. Music Influences: Classic Rock, Alternative Album, Modern Rock.
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Chris formed his music company, Analog Data Enterprises and the band, Alien Sex Cult to download mp3's of Alien Sex Cult's songs. Building on his roots in the Oakland punk rock warehouse scene, Chris is now the editor of Bay Area Rock Magazine an e-zine that started as a print fanzine in 1988, Bay Area Rock Magazine reports the latest news about bands, music trends and developments. Chris is always interested in new artists and developing talent to produce in his recording studio. All music is published by Analog Data Enterprises A.S.C.A.P. and copyright 1985-2001 By Chris Bertram A.S.C.A.P., unless otherwise noted when collaborating with studio musicians.
(Written with the help of ad copywriter Carol)
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Zoe Lowe: Singer - Alien Sex Cult.
“I believe music can change the world and I believe
it can
unite the world. And that's pretty much it. I'm a rather nihilistic
person and I really think that music is the only thing that makes this
world livable. That and air.”
“I come from a very musical background. My
father had a popular local band out here in the late sixties and early
seventies. My older sister is a
musician in Hollywood, And
coming from such a background I was raised with a lot of music awareness.”
“I am definitely a party crasher. The girl in
the red dress no one invited
but everyone knew would show up anyways just because I knew you didn't
want me there.”
“Bands that generate my enthusiasm? Well, I
must say, the truth is that I
get a lot of inspiration for older bands. Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen,
Troggs, Kinks, Zombies, Donovan, The Doors. I get a lot of inspiration
from blues singers like Tom Waits, Muddy Waters, Lightening Jack, Billie
Holiday. As far as modern music goes I'll say, I get stuff from all
different genres but definitey Nirvana, Pulp, Blur, PortisHead, there's
really too many to mention. A lot of them aren't around anymore. I
think
the media has taken a nose dive and it's really easy to give up on Rock and
Roll when the media is such crap. But, you have to remember that Rock and
”
Trade Review:
Alien Sex Cult is a group based in San Francisco. Their cool rhythms and
eclectic style of music lend themselves to comparisons with the Beatles'
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band while their usage of synthesizers
and torrential backbeats remind one of Depeche Mode. Their music is
about getting together and having fun, and the upbeat rhythms of their
music is conducive to recreating this atmosphere time and time again. |
Kat Black: Singer, Alien Sex Cult.
Katarina Black has performed in musicals and plays in
LA and San Francisco including “Tommy,” and “Jesus Christ Superstar”. She has
also acted in various independent films throughout the Bay Area.
Alien Sex Cult has recently signed a distribution deal, that has placed a wide range of physical and electronic outlets for it's media.
Chris Bertram: Composer, Vocals, Guitars, Synthesizer.
Oscmodious: Vocals, Piano, Synthesizer, Bass.
Nancy Mcguiness: Vocals, Drums.
Zoe Lowe: Vocals, Guitar, Synthesizer.
Katarina Black: Vocals.
Peter Cross: Guest Guitar.
Progressive music recorded at some of the finest studios: Fantasy Studios, Studio132,
Woo Woo Productions and the former California Recording Institute. These songs hit
the top 100, top 40, top 5 and number one on mp3.com when owned by Universal. Some
songs were intended for a video game project and some were for a concept band.
The Posers:
I was working as a programmer in silicon valley, and a side project was a video game. The video game later became one of the projects for a contractor for Applied Materials. At one point I was making music for the video game. A neighbor, who later became a session bass player came over when he heard me playing in a hotel in San Francisco. We answered an ad for a free recording session at The California Recording Academy (they have since changed the name) and recorded on 2 inch tape. They did some experimental microphone placement on the drum kit that was amazing. I had heard that drum kits used a lot of microphones from when I managed the band Panther in Sacramento but this used all sorts of different types of microphones on different tracks of 2 inch tape. We were all happy with the basic tracks and went to Woo Woo Productions for the synthesizer recording on 2 inch tape. Zoe and I at Woo Woo, she vocals and me keyboards then left and went to Studio 132 in San Francisco where BZ now an Emmy award winning sound engineer mixed down what we had and added further touches on acoustic guitar. I used a medium sized concert acoustic guitar with nickel flat wound strings. Nancy did her vocal section at Studio132 with their great microphones. There are two girls on The Posers, Zoe and Nancy. I sent it all over to George Horn at Fantasy for the Golden Ear mastering and there you have the final version of The Posers. The Posers was made for radio but at that time we didn't know where it all would be going.
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