Kyle Reese Revenge – This Night Or Never
French electronic music partners, Kyle Reese Revenge, have released their second album. This Night Or Never expands on their previous works and builds upon their humble beginnings playing in rock bands around Paris, France. TNON has ten original tracks of 80’s inspired electronic music and was self-released in December 2018.
Kyle Reese is a fictional character from the Terminator movie franchise. The iconic shotgun-wielding, time traveling human who was sent back to 1984 to do battle with The Terminator (Arnold Schwzenegger), Reese has earned a loyal following of fans through out the years. His namesake is the inspiration for the French musicians.
TNON is blended together of all the ingredients which compose the synthwave genre. Pulsing bass lines are layered among intentionally cheap sounding drum samples, and hung with a drapery of sinewy drones. Other timbres fill out the sonic pallette, including the live guitars and lead synth melodies. The album is entirely instrumental.
Overall the album has a subdued feel to it, like a meandering brook flowing through a neon-filled night scape in a not-too-distant cyber punk future. Shorter song lengths keep the album moving along, and variety of tempos with clever arrangements help to keep the album fresh.
While TNON may be lost among some of the stronger entries into the synthwave genre, Kyle Reese Revenge still shows a lot of promise. The two man musical team continues to hone their craft and strives to further their own take on the genre.
Revenge was kind enough to chat with Slickster Magazine and add their thoughts to our ever-growing catalog of interviews.
Slickster: Who are the artists that make up Kyle Reese Revenge? (KRR)
Jean Michel Jarre: (Randy) My first contact with electronic synth music when I was a child, my father was listening to his music a lot in the 80’s. And also my first live show was his concert where he used his “famous” laser effects and projections onto the “La Défense” skyline in Paris… Great memories that drove me into synth passion.
– Brad Fiedel (Terminator 1984 soundtrack): Obviously our most important influence Fiedel’s music affected us a lot both when we were children.
– Yuzo Koshiro: Streets Of Rage. Even today, for us it is the best video-game soundtrack ever made.
– Music from Sega Megadrive games like Golden Axe I and II, Altered Beast, Dragon’s Fury, Super Hang On…
Jon McCallum: Brilliant synth master, composer and producer, maybe the most original and creative for us in 80’s synth soundtracks. (Axel) I remember when I watched “Surf Nazis Must Die” on TV, I was like “that music is so awesome”. Lots of 80’s/late 70’s horror movies have great soundtracks (Maniac, Lucio Fulci movies…).
– John Carpenter: The synth master, so many iconic movie themes and classic synth sounds.
– Ennio Morricone: The legend, the start of everything in soundtrack music before the synth era.
– Basil Poledouris: Conan The Barbarian, the best movie soundtrack ever made, epic, intense, tough and timeless.
– 80’s music in general, Synthpop, Post-Punk, Darkwave, Dark Romantic Italo, 80’s Metal, AOR stuff… There were a huge amount of great artists, projects and bands in a wide variety of styles in the 80’s, it’s really inspirational.
Slickster: How long have you been making music – not limited to synthwave – but your entire careers?
KRR: About twenty years ago we began playing in a melodic punk rock band (vocals, bass and guitar) and we’ve kept doing that for many years… Randy also played bass in a Post-Punk/Darkwave band.
In 2008, we began to envision making an electronic synth project influenced by the movies, video games and synth music from the 80’s that we enjoy. Instrumental songs based on 80’s synths, like a soundtrack with drums. But the music needed to be something with more variations; More dynamic and more percussive than just an 80’s movie score. At that time we did not know that there were other people doing this kind of music or even if there would be people who would listen to and enjoy it. At that moment we were mainly focused on our band and it was difficult to lead two projects at the same time. So, it’s only in 2012 – when we disbanded – that we seriously started this electronic synth project that we called Kyle Reese Revenge.
Slickster: We have interviewed quite a few international synthwave musicians, including several from your native country of France. The list includes, Grimlin, Terminal Khaos Builders, Remi Buriez aka M.A.D.E.S, Carbon Killer, Fixions, Tommy ’86, and the list goes on. Why, in your opinion, have French musicians pioneered electronic music?
KRR: One big reason for our electronic music industry is that France is not a “Rock country”. It permits a lot of room for other styles of music to grow, and indeed electronic music has become a big part of the French music scene. It’s a really active scene so there is always a desire to create something new, with a proper identity and style, maybe more so than other countries with different music culture.
Slickster: You are based out of Paris. The Yellow Vest Riots, good or bad, have garnered a lot of international media attention. Have you personally witnessed any of these, and if so, have they effected you in any way?
KRR: Yes, the “Gilets Jaunes” movement is part of the current French social atmosphere. It’s a reaction to the society that we are living in, rising against injustice, wrong and unfair politics, economic and social facts.
Unfortunately, we live in a time of changes, most not for the better and this movement is like a signal that shows this “malaise” we feel today. A lot of people are realizing that things are going to get worse for them in the future and that lack of perspective, opportunity for a brighter future creates that anger and despair. When you look at the society these days, it is looking more and more like these dark, tough, hopeless societies depicted in some 80’s movies like Robocop. Fortunately, we’re not there yet, but we are likely going in that direction.
Our music can have a dark feeling and vision of the society, imagining bad things that could come in the future of our modern society. Like we have been thinking at the end of the 80’s, like a storm is coming in…
Slickster: Kyle Reese Revenge is an obvious homage to The Terminator film series. Reese, being the main protagonist in the 1984 movie, is tasked with safeguarding Sara Conner and the future of the human species from genocide at the hands of machines. Of course, it’s one of Arnold Schezenegger’s most famous roles, and James Cameroon’s early directorial successes.
How did you choose this name, and what does KKR mean to you?
KRR: We like the sensibility of this character, Kyle Reese has true emotions. He is not a machine, he’s just a human like us. Reese is a real hero, not just the guy with only muscles. His story doesn’t have an happy ending, like saving the world and having the good life. No, Reese died for a cause, and he goes out fighting till the bitter end.
In our minds we dream that his spirit can come back today for revenge…
Slickster: You list a lot of video games and game OST as influences on your music. Can you discuss a few of your favorite game soundtracks?
KRR: Streets Of Rage I and II, Golden Axe I and II, Altered Beast, Super Hang On, Dragon’s Fury and Donkey Kong Country I and II. What we love about these games/soundtracks is that they took inspirations from music/pop culture and also underground culture of that time and put them on the console world with their own twist. Streets of Rage soundtrack is the first soundtrack that we’ve heard that sounded like “real” music, the sound quality, the melodies, the arrangement…. They are also so evocative and quintessential of that era, on top of being great music pieces.
Slickster: Name your top five favorite retro games, in no particular order.
KRR: Streets Of Rage (I and II) / Mega Drive, Golden Axe (I and II) / Mega Drive, Sonic (I and II) / Mega Drive, Donkey Kong Country (I and II) / Super Nintendo and Super Mario Bros / NES. These are the video-games that we played the most. Even today, we are never tired of playing them. Like when a classic movie is broadcasted on TV, you cannot change the channel and you will see it till the end with the same pleasure, even if you have already seen it multiple times.
Slickster: Will you be doing any live performances in support of the new album?
KRR: It’s complicated. We are not DJs.
In the past, we played live in our band with instruments like guitar, bass and drums so now it’s difficult for us to stand on stage with just a laptop and some buttons. Ideally, we would like to play live with synths, it would be awesome and a great experience but it’s hard to realize.
Slickster: What advice would you offer to young musicians or other creative feilds, as they are getting started? What is something you know now, than you wished you would have known at the beginning of your career.
KRR: Our best advice would be to create your own style and project, inspirations are good but don’t try to copy, to mimic projects/bands that you like. But instead try to create music that speaks to you, that reflects what you feel. There are a lot of great projects/bands that we like but we wouldn’t be able to do the same kind of music, just because it’s not really us, it doesn’t come out naturally. Sometimes you are playing and composing something that’s OK, but it feels kinda weird, it doesn’t feel right for you. Conversely, when you create something that you really like, you know it right away, it speaks to you.
Again, try not to force yourself to sound like other projects because you love them or because they are popular, take these inspirations and aim to create something more personal.
We don’t want to be pretentious but we always wanted to follow this idea since the beginning.
Slickster: Is there anything else you’d like to mention or say that we didn’t get a chance to talk about?
KRR: For us, the 80’s Synth music will forever be the best era of electronic music. Deeply emotional, evocative, timeless, full of intense feelings and inspirations for the future. And we would like to thank all the persons who support our music. It sincerely matters to us.
Kyle Reese Revenge on Facebook
Influences
80’s synth soundtracks, 80’s dark futuristic movies, 80’s vigilantes movies, 80’s/90’s epic video-games, Brad Fiedel, John Carpenter, Jon McCallum, Yuzo Koshiro, Yu Suzuki, Sega Sound Team, Jean Michel Jarre, Basil Poledouris, Angelo Badalamenti, Ennio Morricone, SEGA, SNK/NEO GEO, Arcade, Dark Synthpop, Dark Romantic Italo, Post-Punk, Darkwave, 80’s Metal