Voltergeist began releasing his own blend of acidic dub techno music with the debut release of "Earthen Spirit Loops" on his own label Microrave Records in 2008, but has been recording his own music under various monikers since 1993.
Starting out after receiving ProTracker sample sequencing software on the coverdisk of Amiga Format magazine in 1993, he created music under the name Creations Of The Mind, releasing public domain diskettes with his music files.
After receiving a Yamaha RY30 drum machine as a Christmas gift at the age of 17, he began recording music as
Listmaker, manually synchronizing the hardware to the non-MIDI enabled software. Performing his tracks live at student unions around Glasgow, he built up a reputation as being a dependable act who would play at any party, any time!
He spent his time (wages and student loans) building up a collection of hardware synthesizers, sequencing the equipment using his trusty Amiga 1200 which by this time was running Bars & Pipes MIDI software. Live sets were becoming more and more complicated, so he would play alongside fellow Ayrshire electronic musician Galaxis Quench. The two would help each other perform tracks from a combined repertoire, using masses of electronic gadgets and playing for hours at a time. Eventually, after years of too many parties and the accompanying lifestyle, they took an extended break from music!
He spent a short time as Mr Dimensional; the cloak-wearing MS10-playing frontperson of Glaswegian wacky psychedelic fringe-folk band The Pendulums in 2004 before forming synth-duo
Emotiquon with James "Mr Mechanoid" Rehill.
The Pendulums went on to become the critically acclaimed
Trembling Bells (Microrave Records), with guitarist
Michael Hastings currently performing with [a=Incredible String Band] founding member
Mike Heron. The Pendulums also included well known electronic musician John "
Frog Pocket" Wilson (Microrave Records) as an occasional fiddle player!
In 2008,
Emotiquon were invited to support the band
Grand National onstage at the [url=http://www.altitudefestival.com]Altitude Comedy Festival[/url] in Meribel, where they decided to start up their own label Microrave Records to release "[r1768791]", after purchasing a license from
Rob Da Bank's label Microrave Records.
As
Voltergeist, he's produced dub techno versions of tracks by African folk musician
Jali Bakary Konteh, and kuduro band
Figura (both on Microrave Records), UK indie band
Grand National (on
Rob Da Bank's label Microrave Records), and UK bashment duo
Heatwave. There are also several popular "white label" Voltergeist remixes of
Audion,
Booka Shade,
Laurent Garnier,
Major Lazer, [a=Gus Gus] etc., which were originally made available for free download from his [url=https://soundcloud.com/voltergeist]Soundcloud[/url] page, and are now available on the free Voltergeist album [url=http://voltergeist.com/album/geistpass]Geistpass[/url]
Recently he's worked with ex-
Ministry bass player
Paul Barker, producing an original track to promote "Fix"; a backstage documentary screened at various film festivals across the US, and available to buy as a limited edition DVD/CD/T-shirt package. An exclusive Paul Barker re-version of his track "69 Psalmpled" is included on the bundled soundtrack album "Fix This" ([url=http://www.fixtheministrymovie.com][Fix: The Ministry Movie[/url]) alongside new work by
Puscifer (
Maynard James Keenan of
Tool),
Chris Connelly,
Nivek Ogre (of
Skinny Puppy), Alexis S.F. Marshall (of
Fucking Invincible, and formerly of
Daughters), Canadian industrial figureheads
Deadly Apples, and
Jeffrey Kinart.
His twisted music has been supported by highly influential DJs and tastemakers including
Dubfire,
X-Press 2, Harri (SubClub Glasgow),
Nick Warren (
Way Out West), Dom Chung (Chibuku), Carlos Agueda,
Silicone Soul,
Jet Project and
Meat Katie!
Voltergeist is busy working on some exciting new material which he hopes to release in 2014. He is currently releasing archive recordings from his previous monikers on his [url=http://flyinsaucepan.wordpress.com]Flyin' Saucepan[/url] DIY label, where each monthly archive release is bundled with bonus digital content and it's own unique recipe!
