Mikel Goodwin profile

One of kRkRkRk's most talented experimentalists, particularly with anything related to hitting metal, looping tape or soldering dodgy connections to dodgier devices, Mikel Goodwin has been one of the label's key contributors since 1994.

Even prior to his association with kRkRkRk Mikel had established his bona fides, in the Christchurch scene, through his involvement with the Invisible Dead during 1993. Eccentric, noisy & theatrical, this band were an enthralling experience live. Among the 5 members of the group were Simon McClaren (Love's Ugly Children) & Dave Clark (later of Ape Management). In late 1993 the Invisible Dead were succeeded by C.O.D. - a sort of semi-industrial supergroup conceived by Jason Lane (Silium 19, CeLL) which, in addition to Simon, Dave & Mikel, also featured kRkRkRk co-founder J-mz Robinson.

Mikel had already met J-mz via his friendship with Tracey Pagey (then active, with J-mz, in the pop-cabaret 4-piece: Spastic Crunch & soon to launch her own kRkRkRk solo project: the Psycho-Kat). Introductions to the rest of the label kollectiv soon followed, as did the founding of Mikel's collaborative project, with J-mz: Placenta Cookbook. This band was quite comparable in sound & style to J-mz's work, with Peter Wright, in TMA-1. A vaguely punk/industrial overtone predominated, exploding into thrilling free-noise at one extremity & degenerating into Monty Python-esque silliness at the other. A handful of Placenta Cookbook gigs followed in the 1995-96 period & a single kRkRkRk cassette release: Lithopaedians KRK031b in January 1995. Side A of this tape featured the debut release of Mikel's Wormwood solo project: Feed Back Loop Hole KRK031a.

Placenta Cookbook has never been laid to rest &, during 2000, was reactivated, by J-mz & Mikel, as an electro-pop duo. We anticipate the release of a new album during 2002-03

The Wormwood project emerged in latter 1994, largely as a result of Mikel's solo 4-track noodling during the Placenta Cookbook sessions. Even the deliberately murky & underproduced initial recordings of this project revealed a pop sensibility unparalleled by any other kRkRkRk associate -
although both J-mz & Peter have certainly had their moments. These electro-pop tendencies only continued to become more apparent in the works succeeding Feed Back Loop Hole: Deformity For Flying Vile Things KRK085 (released on CDR in December 1997) &, especially, on Mikel's most recent work: Inside Doubt KRK117 (released on CDR in September 2001).

In April 1995 Mikel's growing involvement with kRkRkRk deepened when he completed the line-up of leonard Nimoy - an industrial rock project initiated a year earlier by David Khan & Peter Wright - & which superceded TMA-1 as the label's premier group project. leonard Nimoy also featured Tracey Pagey.

Although David & Peter were always the main creative engines of this group, Mikel was responsible for many important innovations. These included the combining of acoustic metal percussion with electronic rhythms, the use of amplified bows on electric guitar & the construction of various, arcane, noise-generating electronic devices. Many of these ideas were subsequently adopted by both David & Peter in their respective solo recordings. Mikel also deserves special credit for believing in the Nimoy project at a time when David & Peter might have thrown it in. He was instrumental in providing the resources for the preliminary CDR-mastering of the group's final statement: The Screaming Cage KRK078 (originally released on cassette in January 1997) - not to mention several other kRkRkRk projects initially mastered to CDR during 1997.

The musical tastes of Mikel, Peter & David were closely convergent in the 1994-97 period. Foreign artists such as Swans, Einsturzende Neubauten (particular favourites of Mikel), Joy Division, Diamanda Galas, Skinny Puppy & Foetus were all represented in their, nearly interchangeable, record collections. Among domestic artists, Skeptics, Gordons & Bailter Space were seminal influences.

With the demise of leonard Nimoy, in early 1997, Mikel continued to work with Peter & David in the ad hoc, gallery-based improv projects Noumenon & Death In A Nasty Accident. However, Mikel's most important post-Nimoy project was Flinch - an intense & startling 3-piece that also featured Peter & Justine Sharp. This project, which endured until the end of 1998, combined various forms of electric-guitar chaos (generated by Peter & Mikel) with Justine's acoustic percussion, singular stage presence & astounding vocals. Both Flinch & leonard Nimoy have subsequently enjoyed posthumous reputations of mythic proportions.

In early 1999 Mikel relocated to Wellington for two years. There he worked, sporadically, with kRkRkRk satellites & co-conspiritors Nathan Kerr (Agar), Ray Beales (Righteous Sinner Singers, Microrave) & Robbie Forrester (Invisible Dead, C.O.D.). Towards the end of this period Mikel was also a member of N.U.T.E. (Nothing Under Total Electronics) - an intense & very hi-tech electro-goth band who also featured Brendon Mably (notable, in the annals of kRkRkRk for his work with current label co-curator Ed Wilson in the 1997 Dunedin industrial noise trio Sedative).

Upon returning to Christchurch, in latter 2000, Mikel was almost immediately snapped up to flesh out the new electro-cabaret sound of the Strap Ons. This was a fairly brief tenure in the six months leading up to the Wellington relocation of core members Don Gone (Don Campbell) & Nova Technova (Bev Greene). Still, in this time, the group (then also featuring J-mz Robinson) finished off two full length albums: Bottle KRK115 & Hellbox KRK116 - more is said about these elsewhere.

Although primarily involved in playing bass & manipulating various electronic toys & devices, Mikel also contributed to the remarkable shift towards pop music that the Strap Ons made at this time. Compared with the punk-flavoured garage rock & R&B, for which the group was previously best known, their last two Christchurch albums were, in some respects, lighter, more inclined to abstraction & more playful in tone. Along with Nova, Mikel tempered the more improvisational tendencies of Don &
J-mz with an inclination to song/lyric structures. However, there remained plenty of scope for dadaesque experimentation, on these last recordings, to which all four members contributed.

With the departure of Don & Nova to Wellington, in May 2001, Mikel joined David, Ed & J-mz in a new kRkRkRk group project: MiG-21. Best described as industrial-flavoured pop music, this new 4-piece immediately made use of Mikel's talents with bass guitar. Combined with the custom-made percussion samples, created by David, the bass playing, in MiG-21, provided a fundamental structure over which J-mz & Ed could freely indulge themselves on electric guitar. Mikel's bass work also provided David, as lead vocalist, with melody cues. MiG-21's debut album, MF KRK118, was released in August 2001.

Inside Doubt KRK117
Deformity For Flying Vile Things KRK085
Wormwood
MiG-21
Strap Ons

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kRkRkRk recordings
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Text by David Khan. Web-building by Ed Wilson. No apologies for disinformation.
August 2004