V/VM 365 - An epitaph and dissection
V/Vm - Pig

Eleven days have passed since the final entry of the V/Vm 365 project how do you feel the other side of it all ??
I feel a little more rested than during any of that endless process of uploading and downloading, it's nice to remove that invisible pressure that i put upon myself for a whole year and the months leading upto starting the project, probably from when it was announced online infact, it's nice to wake up and do nothing right now.
I guess it was a voyage into the unknown and one which must have been hard to complete, meaning it would have been easy to quit part way through ?
I spent six months before the project started basically working on techniques to make production a little easier whilst working on some ideas also. A year is actually a long time to work on one single project but even longer when each day brings its own challenge, it's like doing a 365 piece jigsaw adding just one piece to the finished puzzle each day.

The biggest worry was that by doing such a large body of work i would lay myself open to poor audio output and lack of variation and that was the biggest personal challenge. Making one audio piece per day is challenge enough but you also then wonder what people will make of it all and whether or not any of the creation is actually worthwhile and then at points you question the validity of such a project and whether or not it was such a good idea in the first place.
I see you have been quoted as saying you had this idea for a long time before actually realising the project why did you choose last year to do the 365 project ?
I had the idea to do something like this about three years ago but at that time if i had done it i don't think the result would have been the same. I was going to do it in 2005 but because i never announced the project (my intention at that point was to do it all offline and then make it all available at the start of 2006). When i hit January 1st 2005 i was so hung over so i postponed the start and then missed the ideal date to start such a project, plus because i didn't announce it there was no pressure to create anything so another year slipped by. Last year i had the microsite in place and only had to fill in all the gaps, sounds easy but it wasn't to be honest.
What problems did you encounter whilst completing the 365 project ?
The biggest problem by far and one i didn't anticipate was to do with when you're sick. I started the year off the back of a real bad bout of influenza which had floored me over Christmas and New Year, when the first hit i was still feeling lousy so January was a real hard start. I remember having to go to London in the first week of the new year and i was feeling so sick on the train and there was this little kid next to me who was throwing up. Thereafter i recovered only to be hit with this wierd stomach infection when i was in London in the March and that never had chance to clear up because everyday even when ill i would have to be doing things to be true to the ideals of what i set out to do. I think when you're ill you really do need to rest to give your body the chance to clear any infection out and i couldn't do that. Then there was the bad fall i had in Belgium late September, i mean i was housebound for seven weeks in a lot of pain after that, everytime i tried to leave the building here by the time i got down the stairs all i could do was hobble back up them again. It was an insane time and believe me sitting infront of a machine in acute knee pain trying to make music is not fun.
The interesting thing is you don't mention any music problems in term of creation ? I would think such a project would cause strain on the output as by definition you are trying to do each day what some people can take weeks, months and years to do which is to make a piece of finished audio ?
A lot of the audio are unfinished pieces, sure some of the audio is finished, around 50% i would estimate. The rest is made with future use in mind, so people can hack it up and reformat what is there. A lot of these pieces though can sound finished so it's all subjective. To be honest making the music was the easiest part, trying to live around a project like this which is not funded is difficult. I was working in January/February just to survive, then i moved countries in September so living around this was difficult. Making the music was not so hard, maybe some days i was a little demotivated but you deal with that and move on hoping that on the next one you're back on course.

Now it's finished does the end result give you much satisfaction or satisfy what you set out to achieve ?
To be honest right now i havn't really taken stock of what i did achieve, sure i have some figures on how many tracks i made and how long it takes to play it all, but the main thing is i did my best on a totally insane project which received no funding and very little encouragement from any of the music press or other artists out there. I had no idea how it would turn out or even if i would finish it. It's no real big deal of a project to me to be honest, you set a goal and you go for the goal, you either score or miss. In my head i achieved the goal so that is all that matters to me. Sure i can sit around now and work out how to use what i did last year in terms of making a release or releases out of it, but to me it's all old now and gone. It's time to do something else rather than sit on what i did. I am happy it's over and would never do something like this again and wouldn't really recommend anyone else try it because it really is a big test both physically and mentally. Recording all year sounds easy but try it out for yourself and pretty soon it's not so easy. It's quite an abnormal process.
What did you learn from doing such a project ?
Well i learnt a lot of things in terms of creation and looking for inspiration at various times. I also realised that if you do something like this you will get ignored because the industry does not want to see music being given away because everything created has a price tag. Musicians these days seldom create for the love of creating, there is 		V/Vm is Rocky
usually a physical end product nowadays which is sold for hard cash. I mean for example when doing this i would go to various messageboards and you would see music from complete unknowns (i mean i am unknown but these people just started out) and you would see these people advertising a four track download e.p. and they would be charging money for it. It's as if everyone these days puts value to their time and creations because we have been conditioned to do this. Sure hosting files and then offering them for free costs money, but i think sometimes you have to pay money and lose money just to find out what it is you want to make. Too much shit out there is compromised to get sales, if you remove sales you get closer to making what you want to make. Not everything on the 365 is ideal because of the time limitation, there are things there i would like to spend more time on and that would benifit from having more time spent on them but making it all available for free is very liberating to be honest and shows that you don't have to make people pay for everything you create.
How do you follow such a mammoth project such as V/Vm 365 ? Before it was started it states that this is the last project you will undertake, is this still the case ?
 I don't think you can follow that release by say putting out a CD, it's a tough one to follow. I think though a lot of people switched off the project because it's such a vast output. Before i started it was my intention for it to be a final soiree, one long goodbye and a way of thanking those who supported the label througout the years with something free which they could also distribute, use and abuse. Now the project is finished there are still a few things i need to create and do, so things aren't necessarily over but the format in which i was running the label before the 365 project is definitely over. I think it's hard to survive by putting cd's out these days, no-one really buys anything anymore so i think all future projects will now be very limited and designed to break even but be more personal rather than mass producing something that makes the person who buys it feel guilty or used. Maybe also some of these projects will remain undocumented online and be anonymous. V/Vm was always about being online and giving audio away online, but maybe now it won't be as active online. I don't know to be honest what will go on, maybe nothing will happen.
I read online that the name V/Vm may now be rested for a period of time ?
V/Vm as a name these days i think for many conjures up only an image of illegal bootlegs which is a shame, there's a stigma to the name which has been there for a few years now despite there being more releases out there which are not hacked up audio. Names are not that important to be honest, but they are important when it comes to people switching off something purely on the basis of older output. There are plans only for one more V/Vm release which will be the Thatcher record for when she dies (soon we hope), that will be out soon and is totally limited to one copy per year she has lived. It will certainly be a celebration record because i can't wait until she is dead.
The Caretaker Another interesting thing was that you still had time to manufacture and distribute The Caretaker cd box set this year in amongst the daily madness.
Yes and it was well received too, that was a lot of work at a time when i was really unwell, again i think it's one of the best releases on the label and the response to that box set has been amazing. The Caretaker is a project i have worked on for ten years or so now and it's amazing how it's been lumped in and compared to a lot of new music this year. There has been a new focus on this output and one i think it deserves. It's a shame sometimes i can't promote this audio to a larger audience and one i think it deserves. I am in the process of completing a double album right now which will be pressed on vinyl soon, infact i was just sorting the artwork out for it today speaking with someone about that online.
Will this be new Caretaker audio or made from existing cd based only Caretaker releases ?
It's all new audio, some of it you may think you have heard before but that's the trick right there. Recording started on the new material in December so it's at an advanced stage now and i expect the album to be released at somepoint before the summer. It's not on V/Vm though and there will be a very limited accompanying release available on a private pressing i will do which i will make available to certain people out there. I doubt any shops will take it or be given it.
So even now the work didn't stop even though you need a full rest probably after such a hectic 2006 ?
It stopped for a few days but then i am back in the deep end working on some things, sometimes you get the urge so you go with that energy until it runs out, then you can rest up. I think the future will be good fun, i mean i am sure a lot of people want me to go away but i have a lot of fun making music, the only problems i have are with the distribution of music and the fact that now it's very hard to get your music reviewed and heard because too many labels work hand in hand with press to create monopolies which were never there before. Reviews these days are just pointless to be honest, but still people believe what they read out there which is quite sad and why so much mediocre shit gets the big push. 2007 should be interesting i hope, but i doubt you'll see me make over 600 tracks again, i would have to be totally insane to do it all over again. Beyond help.