Ollie Olsen

Ollie Olsen
Birth name Ian Olsen
Born 1958
Melbourne, Australia
Genres Post-punk, electronica
Occupation(s) composer, synthesist, singer, sound designer
Instruments synthesizer
Years active 1977–present
Labels Psy Harmonics
Associated acts Whirlywirld, Michael Hutchence
Website www.ollieolsen.com

Ian "Ollie" Olsen[1] (born 1958) is a composer, synthesist and sound designer from Melbourne. He has been producing and performing rock, electronic and experimental music for over thirty years.[2] Olsen is well known for his 1989 collaboration with Michael Hutchence in the band, Max Q[3] and co-founding the alternative electronic music record label, Psy-Harmonics, with Andrew Till.

History

Olsen began his forays into electronic music as a teenager in the mid-1970s, studying with Felix Werder.[4] He has gone on to produce a large body of work, ranging from experimental work to film and television soundtracks, pop and dance music, installation projects and creating record labels.

In the late 1970s and early 1980s. He formed a series of punk and post-punk bands, as leader and vocalist, as well as being a key figure in the Melbourne little band scene. His punk bands included The Reals and The Young Charlatans (with guitarist Rowland S. Howard).[5] He formed a series of confrontational post-punk bands beginning with Whirlywirld, which also began a long period of collaboration with drummer John Murphy (from Whirlywirld through Hugo Klang, Orchestra of Skin and Bone, NO and finally Max Q).

Olsen and Murphy lived in Europe and Britain between 1981 and 1983 and attempted, unsuccessfully, to get Hugo Klang off the ground. Olsen returned to Australia in 1983 and continued Hugo Klang for a short time with Alan Bamford, Tom Hoy and Laughton Ellery, before the band became officially defunct in 1983. John Murphy eventually returned to Australia and he and Ollie began the Orchestra of Skin and Bone with David and Marie Hoy, Dugald Mackenzie and Peter Scully. Olsen and Marie Hoy would then go on to form NO with Michael Sheridan and Kevin McMahon.

Dogs in Space

In 1984, film director, Richard Lowenstein, asked Olsen and Wirlywirld to appear in the feature film, Dogs in Space. Olsen supervised the reforming of many of the acts from the "Little Bands" era and then worked on the production of music recordings for the soundtrack; the film was released in 1986. In a 2009 interview, following the restoration of the original film for a DVD release, Lowenstein explained:

But Whirlywirld were always the ones for me. I mean, their music is in the movie itself, over the end credits. And the great thing about Ollie [Olsen], and one of the reasons I asked him to do so much in the movie, is that his songs have always had a feel to them, a kind of mood that fitted in with what we were doing. You'd die to make a video for some of his songs, he uses so many great images, and the rhythms he uses are amazing as well.[6]

Max Q

Shortly afterward, he and Dogs in Space star Michael Hutchence collaborated on a musical project under the name Max Q, producing an album combining electronic music with political paranoia. The Max Q band included John Murphy and keyboard player Gus Till.[7] After recording Olsen and Hutchence spent time in New York City mixing the tracks, and re-mixing with DJ Todd Terry.

1990s onwards

Olsen later returned to Australia and turned his attentions to trance music, co-founding Australian electronic music label, Psy-Harmonics[8] with Gus Till's brother, Andrew Till, and recording under the name, Third Eye. From the 1990s onwards, he has worked increasingly in film and sound design for television.

Olsen has lectured on and taught electronic music at various universities and symposia, and has also performed with a wide variety of international artists.

As of 2006, Olsen was working on a number of recording projects – mostly electro-acoustic pieces – with artists from Australia, Japan and South Africa, for performance and release in 2006. Olsen's musical output that year consisted of the release of the album, I Am The Server (13 February 2006), through the Greek record label, Creative Space, and the release of an electro-acoustic album, entitled Simulated. I Am The Server was composed, recorded and engineered by Olsen, with additional music from Bill McDonald and Peter Luscombe; the album was mastered by Simon Pool at LGM studios and the album artwork was produced by Maro Kassoti. Simulated was composed, performed and engineered by Olsen, between 1999 and 2006, mastered by Simon Pool at LGM studios, in January 2006, and the album artwork was, again, produced by Maro Kassoti.[9][10] A series of video clips were uploaded to the YouTube website in support of both I Am The Server and Simulated.[11][12][13][14][15][16][17]

List of past bands

Recent collaborations & projects

References

  1. ↑ "Artist: Ollie Olsen". Long Way to the Top. ABC. Retrieved 24 July 2012.
  2. ↑ "ollie olsen". SoundCloud. SoundCloud Ltd. Retrieved 24 July 2012.
  3. ↑ Dan Jones. "The Max Q Story". http://www.michaelhutchence.org. Kelland Hutchence Collection. Retrieved 24 July 2012. External link in |work= (help)
  4. ↑ Australian Broadcasting Corporation (2001). "Artist: Ollie Olsen Stories and Highlights". Long Way to the Top. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 5 August 2012.
  5. ↑ "Rowland S. Howard & Ollie Olsen – Interview on 'Music Around Us' (1977)". 'Music Around Us'. 'Music Around Us'. Retrieved 24 July 2012.
  6. ↑ Trevor Block (31 July 2009). "Richard Lowenstein". Mess+Noise. Mess+Noise p/l. Retrieved 9 September 2012.
  7. ↑ Tina Hutchence. "Max Q". Michael Hutchence. Tina Hutchence. Retrieved 5 August 2012.
  8. ↑ "Ollie Olsen". Discogs. Discogs. Retrieved 24 July 2012.
  9. ↑ "Audio Archive > Community Audio > i AM the Server". Internet Archive – community audio. Internet Archive. 2006. Retrieved 24 January 2013.
  10. ↑ "Audio Archive > Community Audio > Simulated". Internet Archive – community audio. Internet Archive. 2006. Retrieved 24 January 2013.
  11. ↑ lumukanda77 (24 December 2012). "Ollie Olsen – I Am The Server 2006". YouTube. Google, Inc. Retrieved 24 January 2013.
  12. ↑ lumukanda77 (24 December 2012). "Ollie Olsen – I-Am". YouTube. Google, Inc. Retrieved 24 January 2013.
  13. ↑ lumukanda77 (24 December 2012). "Ollie Olsen – Node". YouTube. Google, Inc. Retrieved 24 January 2013.
  14. ↑ lumukanda77 (24 December 2012). "Ollie Olsen – Prometheus (percussions Peter Luscombe) (sounds-Bill McDonald)". YouTube. Google, Inc. Retrieved 24 January 2013.
  15. ↑ lumukanda77 (24 December 2012). "Ollie Olsen – F=qE+qv XB". YouTube. Google, Inc. Retrieved 24 January 2013.
  16. ↑ lumukanda77 (24 December 2012). "Ollie Olsen – ~ Square". YouTube. Google, Inc. Retrieved 24 January 2013.
  17. ↑ lumukanda77 (22 December 2011). "Ollie Olsen Simulated Movement #3". YouTube. Google, Inc. Retrieved 24 January 2013.

External links

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