What inspired you to first start making music? And how did you come to be in your current incarnation? Or if you prefer, a brief bio about you.
Cyberattack is basically the Ivan Anderson solo project, but I love band names and am obsessed with band names, so I gave this project a band-sounding name (Cyberattack). I sing everything and write everything, and for a couple songs on the album I also played everything. But I also have great musicians backing me up live and on recordings—the current lineup of Cyberattack live is me, Rodney Flood, Jeff Manian, and Justin Goldner.
Apart from Cyberattack I do a bunch of session work as a guitarist and songwriter. Two examples that I’m maybe the most proud of are that I play for Fusilier on the label Brassland, and I was in the band SWEET FIX until it broke up.
Provide us with some info about your latest release…
The current single, “I Know the Feeling,” is about how being in love is sort of like a really awesome glitch—it’s impossible to know how it works, but it feels too good to worry about that. So when I was recording it, I wanted to use a bunch of glitchy, broken-ish sounds and turn them into something beautiful. For instance I used extremely fake-sounding synths from an un-updated version of GarageBand, and then they were pitch-shifted and mangled until they became flowers. Basically the song was built out of glitches, and it’s supposed to sound like a hyper-rainbow blast of joy. Glitches=mysteries=love.
Which ones would you consider your main influences both music-wise & non-music-wise?
Music: Van Halen, Wendy Carlos, The Drums, Prince
Not music: boxing, The Sopranos, Six Flags, orange juice
In what way does your sound differ from the rest genre-related artists/bands and why should we listen to your music? In other words, how would you describe your sound?
I use a lot of glitchy, digitally WTF sounds, but I try to balance that out by making everything super sincere and passionate on an emotional level. So the lyrics are always about feelings, etc., even when the track sounds like cyber insanity.
Please name your 3 desert islands albums, movies & books…
This is completely impossible for me but here:
Album: Jimi Hendrix, album doesn’t matter, greatest hits/whatever
Movie: Goodfellas
Book: Crazy from the Heat by David Lee Roth
Do you prefer studio or performing live and why?
I think as a guitarist, I like performing live and improvising solos and frantically communicating with my bandmates whenever I decide to change how the songs go. But as a singer and songwriter, working in the studio and making weird discoveries is extremely great.
Is there any funny-unique story you would like to share with us, always in relation to your music ‘career’?
I spent the night before the release concert for “I Know the Feeling” in the hospital, getting six stitches in my right knee. I had gone running that evening and I fell and cut my knee and it got split open. It didn’t hurt that much, and I didn’t look very closely at the wound because it was dark, so I just kept running for a while. But when I got home and I saw it, I was like “Oh man, that looks really wrong and terrible.” It was deep, it just looked horrific. So I went to the emergency room and got stitches.
I had to put on a show the next night, but I think I sort of thrived on the whole experience of getting stitched up. The injury wasn’t that bad, but the whole thing made me feel hardcore in the exact way I crave, all the time. Plus the pictures were good for my Instagram story. (see 2nd photo)
Which track of your own would you point out as the most unique and why?
On the debut single, “Sure Thing,” I played a solo on a random tone generator. This is a thing that literally only makes random noises, and all you can control is the speed and whether it slurs between notes. So just the idea of doing a solo with that is kind of problematic, but I’m extremely proud of what I did. You can hear it at the very end of the song.
Would you like to share with our readers your future plans?
The full debut Cyberattack album is coming out later this year, plus also I have music videos coming for all the singles I’ve released so far (“Sure Thing” and “I Know the Feeling”), plus official videos for other songs you haven’t even heard yet.
Free question!!! (Ask yourself a question) you wish to answer and haven’t been given the opportunity…
Do you have any endorsements?
I’m endorsed by Spectraflex Cables and Iron Horse Instruments (I have a custom-built guitar from there), but my dream of dreams is to be endorsed by Tropicana. They make my favorite orange juice, which I drink all the time: Tropicana Pure Premium Orange Juice Low Acid. I made a hashtag about it, #tppojla, I’m trying to get their attention. That orange juice is a big part of my life.
Photo credits: Peter Cunningham (1st one), Ivan Anderson (2nd one)
Curated by: Christos Doukakis
Recommended listening:
Connect with Cyberattack:
https://www.instagram.com/cyberattack_world/
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCledLngWDeoZ0rzjIU6Pxzw
https://www.facebook.com/CyberattackWorld/