QXTC

QXTC is Gavin Bradshaw. I began making electronic music using my four-track tape recorder, a Zoom 505 effects pedal, keboards, guitars, feedback/white noise/radio samples, and whatever else i could find, around 2000/2001 when i was finishing secondary school.

This continued through sixth form college, where I also played in a few bands. During my first year of university i was introduced to Logic in a music tech class. In the summer following my first year the guitarist in the band i was in showed me Fruity Loops. This was summer 2003.

I used Fruity Loops to make my first album Quixotic. Fruity Loops was also used for the majority of Quixotic 2, but also with some acoustic instruments recorded in Cakewalk. As you may have guessed i was using a
Microsoft OS back then. A combination of Fruity Loops and acoustic recording was used up until Quixotic 5when i started using Reason on my newly purchased iBook G4.

Since then I have used Reason, Garageband, Peak 4, and a Tone generator program which was freeware but
unfortunately have lost (you can hear this on Static Head Press and Background Hum Headache on Quixotic 6).
In addition to all the software I can play quite a few instruments and stick these on a lot of tracks.

I also make music under the pseudonym The Gack Factory Orchestra, and under my own name.

I think my music is more-often-than-not diatonic and rhythmically is pretty regular. For this reason i don’t
think my music is particularly left-field, although I suppose it depends on your frame of reference. Nethertheless, where I want to go with my music is into an area which is harmonically and rhythmically more adventurous.
I tend to like music which is structurally complex, but i also like it when the elements of the piece dictate the structure. So I think what i’m looking for is a naturally derived complex structure which comprises of non-diatonic harmonies and irregular rhythms, but that still makes the listener want to get up and dance. Yeah – that’s about right. It’s good to set the bar high.
QXTC, 02/2009