Full Moon Film - album spotlight

What is Full Moon Film?

In 2005, Karl Mohr moved to the wooded outskirts of Huntsville, Ontario where he re-established his recording studio and began producing some young local talent. While woodpeckers knocked the fenceposts and spruce trees swayed in the wind, Mohr's vast layers of sub-bass would invite dozens of white-tailed deer onto the property - it was a perfect, serene launching point for a new album. Driven by the interest in creating an album of very short, electronic pop ditties with biting, dark lyrics, he began work on Slut Within - the first song of those we find on Full Moon Film. (One exception, Vampire Car, actually predates this, being first recorded in Austria in 2003.)

With the advantage of time, a clear headspace and the opportunity to be extremely loud, some monstrous gothic rock compositions emerged, such as those heard on Come Hither Moon, Forbidden Fruit Deluxe and the remake of These Fine Feathers. The intervening years have evolved the newer songs To The Morgue Again, Impervious, a remix of The Slut Within from Calgary's DJ/producer Releveler and a very dark treatment of Avril Lavigne's Complicated.

Driven by exacting mix/mastering standards, Mohr continued to tweak and hone the final mixes and master recording for final release in autumn 2010. What is Full Moon Film? An epic journey through dark caverns of sound.

It's also worth noting that there was a huge amount of material generated over those five years - three albums' worth. Much of the most interesting, and also some of the most commercial, radio-friendly material were omited from this album to create a more coherent and dedicatedly 'dark' collection.

Is Full Moon Film an album or an actual film? Is this the soundtrack to a film?

An album. The Dead Red Velvet album Full Moon Film has nothing to do with the various motion pictures with Full Moon in the title. Nor does it reference the Full Moon Film Festival. However, this certainly is a cinematic album, conjuring a vast world of mental pictures. It is in this sense that the word "film" functions here; "Full Moon" refers to all the full, burgeoning lunacy and an end of a cycle.

Most of Mohr's work can be said to have a visual or cinematic quality, and his sound design work for IMAX films certainly echoes back in the composition and rendering of his musical works.

Additionally, one of the initial inspirations behind Full Moon Film was the desire to create an album that recalled to mind the same moods and emotions as those of the soundtrack to Danny Boyle's Trainspotting (1996) film. This film was especially important to Mohr during that Huntsville period; you can certainly hear the influence on the songs on Full Moon Film.

Who else was involved in Full Moon Film?

Gabriel Teran, a Toronto director/filmmaker created a video universe for the song These Fine Feathers. The re-building of the original song into a dynamic, four-minute version allowed for expansion intro new sonic realms. (The version on Full Moon Film is this video version with the fulfilling "techno tail" of the original suffixed back into place.) His vision and encouragement helped to get motivation and inspiration flowing to create the ultimate goth rock album.

Eric Reid, a young native of the Huntsville area, whose early Laugh Out Loud recordings were produced by Mohr, traded back acoustic drum kit performances on some of the more rock-flavoured songs on the album. Eric is continuing to write and perform his unique brand of indie pop which he currently calls Moon Thunder.

Releveler (Krhys Wiebe) re-arranged Slut Within to such successful effect that the many, varied original versions were dropped in favour of his fresh, dancefloor version. Not only did his unique lithium-fueled digi-wave production give the song new life, but his chopping out of half the lyrics gave rise to a tighter concept.

Avril Lavigne and her songwriting team The Matrix were the most significant outside influence - the song Complicated was first covered as a silly joke on a hot afternoon, and just kept evolving into the black dirge that lies at its final resting place.

The final Fallen Angels band -- Benjamin Mueller-Heaslip of the Parkdale Revolutionary Orchestra, Ian Revell of Double Eyelid, film editor Jeremy Munce, video artist Michael Plourde, theremin player Carol Bell, graphic novel artist Anthony Haley, violinist/violist Amanda Penner -- performed the summer 2009 concerts, and was undoubtedly an influence on the songs, shaping attitudes and approaches to them, before the final release of Full Moon Film.

Tegan Todestrieb is the female model featured on the album art - Mohr denies that the band has become a duo (despite this visual assumption), though he claims she does have musical skills and is planning a record label/promotion company of her own called Dirty Weather Records. Mohr insists that the album is about the vigorous interplay of human relationships and wanted an album cover which somehow portrayed this. Toronto-based photographer Ivonka Frankova captured the core shots for the album art.

Innumberable other people listened, commented and helped to shape the album.

Who is Dead Red Velvet?

Dead Red Velvet is the new project of Canadian composer/producer Karl Mohr. After releasing 28 cassettes and 10 CDs under his own name, plus one release on CD/vinyl as Blue Visions and one official CD as Droid Charge, Karl Mohr has been eager to find a new, identifiable outlet for his goth/industrial/darkwave material. Dead Red Velvet comprises his post-Fallen Angels period, with a new focus in writing, atmosphere and live delivery.

What is Dead Red Velvet currently doing? Future plans?

Full Moon Film has had a first production run and copies are currently going out for radio promotion, etc. Dead Red Velvet will be an ongoing recording/performing unit - it will consist of Karl Mohr and his machines as the core, with additional players on recordings and the live shows. This is a compromise between being exclusively a solo artist and having to maintain a regular band unit. Historically, shows have been sporadic, but with this album, a renewed interest in regular playing (Europe) is underlined. The first live shows under the name Dead Red Velvet will begin spring 2011.

While Multibeat Records has manufactured and released the album, the aim is to have record labels and distributors in other territories (Europe) take the kind of interest that would allow this album to grow beyond the boundaries of its initial release. Canada has not, historically, been the best place to launch dark electronic music.

There is also an active campaign to place the songs on this album in film/television/advertising.

What will happen to the other Karl Mohr projects, outside of Dead Red Velvet?

There are a few older Karl Mohr albums which are being mastered as previous releases. No new Karl Mohr output will be released under his own name. Dead Red Velvet will be the artist moniker for all of Mohr's future endeavors with song-based goth rock, darkwave, and futurepop.

Droid Charge is an entirely active project, exploring the boundaries of speed-driven, loop-based DJ culture, ie. machine-core. Both recordings and performances are planned for Droid Charge in the future - Mohr is excited by this real-time sonic-exploration expression.

His chill house project, Blue Visions, has a second album on deck, but far from finished. Blue Visions will continue to create soothing, luxurious commerical house tracks for release, licensing and placements. Blue Visions openly embraces collaborations with singers/instrumentalists on a track-by-track and project basis.

For the time being, Multibeat Records is the main hub of all this activity, with Multibeat Music being a registered music publishing company.

How can one purchase Full Moon Film?

There are four main ways to obtain the album:

1. Buy a CD at a live show.

2. Go to your local retail store and order the CD - this option is possible through Indiepool's retail catalog program. Any location of a major chain in Canada should be able to order the album.

3. Purchase the CD online, delivered to your door. $14 CAD. (Link below)

4. Purchase the digital download at iTunes or any number of distributors. (Full link list below)

For anyone having problems obtaining the album, or individual tracks on the album, please contact Multibeat Records at the email address below.

How can we contact Dead Red Velvet for interviews, spotlights & on-air performances?

Any and all radio broadcast of Full Moon Film is applauded and encouraged. Additionally, the artist is happy to take part in on-air or phone interviews, performances, album spotlights and program co-hosting.

Station IDs, artist drops, bumpers, rejoiners - can be provided: over the phone, in your studio, or remotely in our studio. It is a pleasure to contribute!

We keep track where we can, but alerting us to playlist adds, charting, reviews written, etc is very appreciated!

GENERAL CONTACT: Multibeat Records, Dead Red Velvet, Karl Mohr: gi|at|multibeat|dot|com

I have lost my Full Moon Film Radio Guide!

No problem - here is the flip side.

Dead Red Velvet - Full Moon Film - Radio Guide