INTERVIEW WITH JIM SEMONIK

by Adam Arthur

Jim Semonik (aka DJ HIEM, also of the band Red Lokust) is a well-established force in the Greater Pittsburgh area’s Industrial music scene. Jim is the individual behind the prolific Industrial/Alternative Electronic Music label Distortion Productions. As a promoter he has brought such alternative electronic acts to Pittsburgh as Glass Apple Bonzai and Ayria. He is also a vocal cancer survivor, having launched the long-running Electronic Saviors compilation album series to raise funds to help cancer patients and their families. He recently announced an upcoming interview with UPMC to discuss his experiences. I had the honor of interviewing him for Petrichor.

You’ve been involved in a number of multi-media projects, including comic book spinoffs based on your life story (I believe I actually have one of them on my bookshelf). What is your approach to multi-media and what do you believe are the artistic benefits of collaborating and working across mediums?

If you’re asking multi-media in terms of – comics, I’m a huge comic nerd so you have me with that question, we’ll be here all night. I can’t really articulate how beneficial I think it could be to a musician because it’s at the point where I don’t think musicians have really tapped into that as much as they could. You see bigger names like the MCR guys write comics and they’re doing well. I’ve done a couple things with the Electronic Saviors and Synthcore Dreams imprints but those were not my ideas. What I would like to do, and I’ve already done it once with the Kill Lock soundtrack, is soundtracks for comics – where the bands that are assigned to the label would read a graphic novel, a six issue arc, and write songs about it. I think that’s not really been tapped into and I think as an opportunity it’s just sitting there waiting. We did Kill Lock with IDW and it did pretty well. I’d love to do some stuff with Image. They have a lot of really great books.

Some of your recent projects have included tribute albums to films and media properties including Transformers, The Crow, The Lost Boys, etc. How do you choose which films, classic television shows etc. to create tribute albums to? Is there anything else that’s similar in the works?

Part A of that question: yes, it has to be a soundtrack that I have some sort of deep connection to from my youth, that was one of my favorite things growing up – Lost Boys, Summer in the ‘80s, Transformers, Summer in the ‘80s. The Crow, mid-‘90s. I have a lot of great memories. I was just starting to get into Industrial when that movie came out – ’94, I was still in high school so I have to have some sort of connection to where I can look at each band and each song and what act can do a good cover of this particular song?

That’s usually how it ends up working. Now, as far as upcoming, there’s a thousand ideas, most notably, the one I’ve announced already is the 1991-1992 The Singles, it was a movie based in the Seattle grunge rock scene – Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Alice in Chains, Mudhoney, a lot of great rock acts that I listened to in high school that I broke around that time. It’s sort of a romantic comedy – Bridget Fonda, Matt Dillon, but that wouldn’t be until after Electronic Saviors vol. 7

Another of your projects (as you mentioned) is the Electronic Saviors compilation series. How do you select which artists’ contributions end up on your compilations?

I’m pretty liberal about that whole selection process. I open submissions usually at the beginning of the year. They’ll run all year long and anyone is free to submit. In terms of what’s accepted I try not to leave anybody out but sometimes we receive tracks that are just not produced – there’s a lot of work that needs to be done or we don’t feel they’re appropriate to the cause of what we have going on; and room is also a factor, because usually we’re dealing with 4-6 discs.

So, yeah, essentially I’m open to if somebody wants to be involved with that cause, I would rather hear their music than not. Because the way I feel about it is if a band really feels like they can make a difference it deserves to be heard, regardless of if they’re signed or a touring band or just a studio project or just one guy in their bedroom making music.

Your band Red Lokust has played a number of shows locally, both as a headliner and as an opening band. Is there a favorite band you’ve opened for?

I really enjoyed opening for Front 242. That was probably the biggest Red Lokust show we played. My old band Re[Inforced] also played with bands like that. With Red Lokust we got to play with Suicide Commando and Hocico. Both are huge influences of mine. My previous band did get to play with Chemlab, which is like my favorite band. So I feel very lucky that we got to do as much as we have in the amount of time we’ve been active as a project since 2015.

Or a favorite band that’s been an opener when you headlined?

That – how do I say this without being biased? We’ve played a bunch of label showcases and Tragic Impulse is always fantastic. MissFit Toys have always been great. I liked playing with those guys. Amulet from DC is fantastic. We’ve not played on a bill with them yet but I just spoke with her last night – Eva X, I have a lot of hope for her. I think she’s gonna be fantastic. I hope we get to play a gig together. She’s on the Mechanismus festival this year which we were on last year. Glass Apple Bonzai went before us – they have upcoming gigs, including one in Pittsburgh we haven’t really announced yet.

Did you intend any symbolic significance with the band names that you’ve had?

Red Lokust was totally my bandname Lee’s – I think a video game reference. He came up with that one. Re[Inforced] was an amalgam of my very first band I had here in Pittsburgh called Forced. A couple of the guys in the band left to pursue life things and I wanted to change things up so I changed the name from Forced to Re[Inforced].

Is there a symbolic meaning to your DJ name (DJ HIEM)?

Hiem? I haven’t been asked about that in many years. That was a bastardized spelling of Spanish for Jim (“Jaime”) but there’s no deeper meaning.

You juggle between multiple roles, such as a musician/producer, record label manager, and promoter. Which of those roles came easiest to you and which was the most difficult to learn?

Oh – being a musician and a performer is always probably the easiest and most natural. Doing the clerical work of the label is always sort of a pain in the ass for one person to do when you have 30 or so bands signed to the label.

So, I just did taxes the other day so that was an all day affair. So, I – it’s not that I – how do I say this? It’s, I’m not bad at doing it, but it’s time consuming and there’s just some tedious work when you’re dealing with numbers and sales. The clerical side of things I’m not crazy about.

The handshaking side of things is where I shine the best. Talking to people, meeting people at shows, hearing their stories, hearing how they feel about the music. I think that’s probably my favorite part of it and coordinating the cancer benefit – it’s again, that’s a very time-consuming and takes two years of my life to put one of those things together. I wasn’t even going to do an Electronic Saviors vol. 7 but some friends convinced me to do it? Why stop, it’s still raising money. I would say yeah – musician’s the easiest, the clerical is the hardest but it’s fun and I still enjoy it.

As the mind behind Distortion Productions, you’re mainly grounded in Industrial, but also have a few acts signed to the label like Glass Apple Bonzai who venture off in a somewhat different direction. How do you keep your label rooted in Industrial as a genre without straying too far off into other stylistic territory?

If you look at what we’ve done with Electronic Saviors – the label grew out of that. So the label is a testament to my interest in the kinds of stuff that we do. It’s not all Industrial – there’s some Goth Rock, Power Noise, EBM, Electro, the many facets of dark music. We gave it the banner of Industrial because there’s so many things that can fall under that.

I only have one prerequisite with artists that I sign, and that’s that they have some form of electronics. Glass Apple Bonzai’s new record is for all intents and purposes a post-punk album. Metamorph is sort of witchy and clubby with a Goth tone to it. If it’s dark music and it’s electronic it’s all good. I don’t see myself ever venturing into signing a Metal band – Metal never appeared to me all that much. There needs to be something that anchors it and I think electronics in music is the anchor. So the label is extremely diverse – a band like IIOIOIOII is not going to sound like the Spider Lillies; Esther Black is not going to sound like Trade Secrets. So having a diverse roster is a good thing.

At the same time, I wouldn’t want people to think the label has no identity. So if you look at a label like Metropolis – massively diverse. If you stick to one thing you become that one thing and I don’t just want to be one thing. You’ve got to be careful not to limit yourself. If someone’s talented and they have a good record, I’m interested, the band’s interested – why not?

You’re very well known locally for your advocacy for cancer patients, especially as a cancer survivor yourself. What is your advice to people in the Pittsburgh area who want to help cancer patients through a difficult journey?

I have several friends going through it right now, as a matter of fact. I would tell people to be understanding of the struggle that they’re dealing with, empathetic – be empathetic. That’s probably the most important thing. That goes hand in hand with understanding. There’s a charity we’re working with called Young Adult Survivors United out of Wexford, PA that’s tremendous. They work with young people with Cancer – help them pay bills, stay on their feet, because cancer’s something that will knock you down and keep you there if you let it. So, my advice to people, if you know someone struggling with cancer or if you have it a positive state of mind is important. Focus on those things you love. Focus on positive things; things that you’re into, that you’re passionate about. And try to put all of your efforts into those things. It could be a drug to combat your disease with. If you’re just a friend who you’re going with it with someone be there as much as you can be.

From your experience as a cancer survivor – do you have any advice for people being tested for cancer, or for people who have recently learned that they (or a loved one) might have cancer?

The important thing is – we live in a country where health insurance is not necessarily a given – it’s become more affordable thanks to the ACA but there are still people that can’t afford that. So health insurance is a major obstacle and when you’re dealing with chemo, radiation treatments, surgeries and stuff the price tag can get really high. So if you’re in need of places like that or a place like Young Adult Survivors United, there are so many other charities and support groups you can join. They’re the ones we’re working with with Electronic Saviors.

On a more positive note, what is your advice for either aspiring music producers (especially in the Industrial genre), label managers, or promoters in the music scene?

My advice – oh, man. Be persistent. If you don’t see what you want, if you don’t experience what you want to happen, and it’s something that you are really passionate about and you’re putting your heart and soul into it – not everybody makes it. What is even making it at this point? The music industry compared now to 20 years ago is very different. I’ve seen a rise and fall of it over the course of my life.

For someone who wants to get into this business, keep a level head on your shoulders. Don’t try to – if you’re getting into it get into it for the right reasons and that would be you’re passionate about it and want to bring change to a scene, your own scene in your hometown. Be persistent, don’t give up if you’re not seeing thins go the way you want to. It can take a while. It’s not always an overnight sensation so to speak. It can’t always be – and, how important is money? It depends on what scene you’re trying to go for. If it’s an underground scene there’s not much money in it. I’m a testament to that.

I’m just lucky because the Industrial scene’s been very good to me in that I’ve had the experiences that I’ve had. I hope to the person reading this that you get to work with the people that inspired you. That’s why I got into this business – because I wanted to work with people that I’ve admired throughout the years and gotten the chance to make that happen.

What are you going to look back on at the end of your life – a bunch or regrets, or are you going to have done a bunch of awesome shit? But yeah, in the end, that’s what it’s all about. Try to be happy and don’t let it make you miserable.