Cam Farrar - Wasted

Dance culture is undergoing a transformation. No longer is electronic music populated by faceless producers hiding behind their machines. Personality is back in vogue. It's the era of 'anything goes'.

Enter Melbourne's Cam Farrar.

Farrar could be the first post-electroclash star, his music being an explosive hybrid of punk, New Wave, electro, house and techno.He's here to shatter purism. "I always thought you couldn't really say that you were into punk music and electronic music - especially when house music was going up - but now it's cool," Farrar claims.

The DJ-come-producer picks up where Green Velvet left off with his first major label single 'Wasted' - the suitably detached vocal performed by sometime filmmaker (and Velvet Underground fan) Fi B Haven, who comes across as a composite of Berlin's Terri Nunn, circa 'Sex (I'm A...)', Transvision Vamp's Wendy James, and Miss Kittin.

"A tweaked-out, mutant electro monster"
- Christian Barker (Ministry Music Magazine Australia)

As Cam puts it, 'Wasted' is "full-on". Indeed, he combines the lyrics of Black Flag's 80s punk anthem of the same title with a housified electro beat and streetwise attitude.

"I was a hippie/I was a burn-out/I was a drop-out/I was out of my head/I was a surfer/I had a skateboard/I was so heavy, man/I lived on the strand/I was so wasted."

Sure, Farrar may be a new name to the mainstream, but he's long been active in the underground, DJing in his hometown and even releasing the club-oriented 'Tribal Beats' as Neurotic Jock Vs Cam Farrar on Vicious Vinyl.

As it happens, Farrar's musical tastes are something of a contradiction. As an 80s kid, he simultaneously embraced punk and synth-pop.

"I started with a bit of a mix. When I was quite young, I used to listen to a lot of guitar-driven punk music. At the same time, I was listening to early 80s electro stuff like Devo - it was probably not even called 'electro', it was just pop music with modern synths. I guess it all worked together in some weird way."

Inspired by "American hardcore punk music" like Black Flag, Agent Orange and Bad Brains, Farrar began his career performing in bands - hitting the skins. But, with the acid house revolution underway, he was drawn back into electronic music. At first Farrar tried to balance his disparate influences.But something had to give. Farrar found the pressures of being in a band, and negotiating divergent musical sensibilities, too much. The DIY ethos of dance appealed. Farrar neglected his drumkit, spending more time with his keyboards and sequencer. "I sold my drumkit last year," he laughs.

Now Farrar has aligned himself with local company Rachelle Productions and signed to the new BMG Australia dance imprint Audio Riot.

With so much recent dance music falling into formula, Farrar wants to create a noise. If nothing else, he is aiming to make "honest music" - "to just say it like it is."

"When I listen to mainstream music, it doesn't really move me - I wanna move people," he explains.

There is none of the self-consciousness, kitsch pretence or retro posturing of electroclash with Farrar. He's punk in spirit. "When you listen to my music, it is a collage of punk and electronic music, so it's got a raw edge to it. Electronic music has got a bit safe in the last little while, so 'Wasted' is a bit of a statement - an antidote to that maybe - because when electronic music got big worldwide, everyone realised it was the next big thing, so all the labels got onto it and it got huge and people stopped taking risks. It's been watered down until it's boring and no one cares anymore, so I'm trying to inject some life into it."

Debut single from Melbourne Producer Cam Farrar, 'Wasted'
- In Store 15th September 2003