Andy Dixon (born 25 August 1979) is a Canadian artist and musician, who gained notoriety as a member of the North Vancouver punk rock band d.b.s. He founded the record label Ache Records, and later played in The Red Light Sting. Beginning in 2003, during the final months of The Red Light Sting, he began to cut up audio recordings he made himself and compose

glitch A glitch is a short-lived fault in a system, such as a transient fault that corrects itself, making it difficult to troubleshoot. The term is particularly common in the computing and electronics industries, in circuit bending, as well as among ...

/ IDM music under the alias Secret Mommy, though he used The Epidemic for his first solo release.

Biographical background

The son of two accountants, Dixon began expressing himself creatively at a young age. He grew up in North Vancouver. His parents were supportive of their son's musical endeavors, giving him his first guitar at age 9 or 10, allowing him as a teenager to go on tours with his band for weeks at a time, and often lending him money so he could keep doing so.

Musical projects

d.b.s.

Andy Dixon began playing guitar in the band d.b.s. around the age of twelve in 1991 with bandmates Paul Patko ( drums), Jesse Gander (

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...

), and Dhani Borges (bass), drawing from influences such as Bad Religion and, later, Jawbreaker. The group decided to disband in October 2000 after over eight years, five full-length records, and the release of their final EP, '' Forget Everything You Know'', regarded as their most mature effort. ''Forget Everything You Know'' was released on Dixon's Ache Records.

The Red Light Sting

Near the end of d.b.s., Dixon, along with future business partner Zoë Verkuylen and friend Gregory Adams of The Self Esteem Project started toying with songs under the name Hooray for Everything. Due to other members leaving the group, the original three took their songs to Paul Patko of d.b.s., who agreed to be their drummer. This change in personnel warranted a change in the band's name to The Red Light Sting. Their sound was predominantly post-hardcore, with noise core influences. Gregory Adams's vocals ranged from screaming to soft singing. Zoë Verkuylen played a

Roland Juno-60 The Roland Juno-60 is an analog synthesizer manufactured by the Roland Corporation between 1982 and 1984. It followed the Juno-6, an almost identical synthesizer released months earlier. The Juno synthesizers introduced Roland's digitally contr ...

keyboard as a

rhythm Rhythm (from Greek , ''rhythmos'', "any regular recurring motion, symmetry") generally means a " movement marked by the regulated succession of strong and weak elements, or of opposite or different conditions". This general meaning of regular re ...

instrument, often playing off key notes and

dissonant In music, consonance and dissonance are categorizations of simultaneous or successive Sound, sounds. Within the Western tradition, some listeners associate consonance with sweetness, pleasantness, and acceptability, and dissonance with harshness ...

riffs. Though Dixon, who played guitar for the band, was the leading creative force behind the group, Adams has been quoted as saying in ''Discorder'' that when they were together, "the songs write themselves". After four years, The Red Light Sting disbanded, holding their last shows in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

and

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

in early September 2004. In that time, they released two EP's—''And Our Love is Soaking in It'' and ''Rub 'Em Out''—as well as a split LP with

Hot Hot Heat Hot Hot Heat is a Canadian indie rock band from Victoria, British Columbia, formed in 1999. The band was signed by Seattle label Sub Pop in 2001 and released its first EP, ''Knock Knock Knock'', and first full-length album, '' Make Up the Break ...

. Their final release was ''Hands Up, Tiger'', a ten-song LP which came out less than a month before the band split up.

Early solo work

It was at this time that Dixon realized the potential of his computer as a musical medium, something he had already been doing in his spare time: he produced a record under the moniker of The Epidemic on Ache Records. This solo debut saw Dixon "combining an indie rock sensibility with vague electronic flashes and jilting experimentation with arrangements". In an interview with Discorder, Dixon explained that he needed to take time off from playing in a band, something which he had been doing since he was twelve. Instead he focused his efforts on his record label, Ache Records, and his solo music project, now called Secret Mommy.

Secret Mommy

His first full-length album as Secret Mommy, ''Babies That Hunt'', was released o
Orthlorng Musork
of

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

, a label known for their "laptop musicians" and "electro-punk" artists. He released his first full-length Secret Mommy record before the final Red Light Sting album was released. The second full-length, ''Mammal Class'', was released later in the same year on Ache Records. ''Mammal Class'' includes samples of

Pink Pink is the color of a namesake flower that is a pale tint of red. It was first used as a color name in the late 17th century. According to surveys in Europe and the United States, pink is the color most often associated with charm, politeness, ...

Mary J. Blige Mary Jane Blige ( ; born January 11, 1971) is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Often referred to as the " Queen of Hip-Hop Soul" and " Queen of R&B", Blige has won nine Grammy Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, four American Music Award ...

Andrew W.K. Andrew Fetterly Wilkes-Krier (born May 9, 1979), known professionally as Andrew W.K., is an American conceptual performance artist, rock singer, multi-instrumentalist, record producer and actor. Raised in Michigan, Wilkes-Krier began his m ...

, Britney Spears,

Shania Twain Eilleen Regina "Shania" Twain ( , ; née Edwards; born August 28, 1965) is a Canadian singer and songwriter. She has sold over 100 million records, making her the best-selling female artist in country music history and one of the best-s ...

, Justin Timberlake,

Arab on Radar Arab on Radar was a Providence, Rhode Island-based noise rock band founded in 1994. They went on hiatus in 2002. Members of the band went on to form or join the bands including The Chinese Stars, Athletic Automaton, Made in Mexico, and Doomsda ...

, as well as some more unconventional sounds: elephants,

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pigs The pig (''Sus domesticus''), often called swine, hog, or domestic pig when distinguishing from other members of the genus '' Sus'', is an omnivorous, domesticated, even-toed, hoofed mammal. It is variously considered a subspecies of ''Sus ...

, French educational records, balloons, eating noises. For his third release, Dixon used samples from a trip to

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only state ...

, known as the ''Hawaii 5.0 EP''. The album title is taken from a combination of sources: it is self-referential in that it is based on samples recorded in Hawaii, there are five tracks, and the "5.0" is a reference to software versioning (e.g. iTunes v7.7), in acknowledgement of the electronic nature of the music; the title also hints at the American television show ''

Hawaii Five-O Hawaii Five-O or Hawaii Five-0 may refer to: * ''Hawaii Five-0'' (2010 TV series), an American action police procedural television series * ''Hawaii Five-O'' (1968 TV series), an American police procedural drama series produced by CBS Productio ...

''. Making use of handmade hidden

condenser microphones A microphone, colloquially called a mic or mike (), is a transducer that converts sound into an electrical signal. Microphones are used in many applications such as telephones, hearing aids, public address systems for concert halls and public ...

Dixon compiled recordings for his third full-length record ''Very Rec''. All of the sounds recorded by Dixon for this effort were in places of recreation such as

tennis court A tennis court is the venue where the sport of tennis is played. It is a firm rectangular surface with a low net stretched across the centre. The same surface can be used to play both Types of tennis match, doubles and singles matches. A variet ...

s, a swimming pool, a

soccer field A football pitch (also known as soccer field) is the playing surface for the game of association football. Its dimensions and markings are defined by Law 1 of the Laws of the Game, "The Field of Play". The pitch is typically made of natural t ...

, a

yoga Yoga (; sa, योग, lit=yoke' or 'union ) is a group of physical, mental, and spiritual practices or disciplines which originated in ancient India and aim to control (yoke) and still the mind, recognizing a detached witness-consci ...

studio, an ice rink, a

squash Squash may refer to: Sports * Squash (sport), the high-speed racquet sport also known as squash racquets * Squash (professional wrestling), an extremely one-sided match in professional wrestling * Squash tennis, a game similar to squash but pla ...

court, a dance studio, a dojo, a

daycare Child care, otherwise known as day care, is the care and supervision of a child or multiple children at a time, whose ages range from two weeks of age to 18 years. Although most parents spend a significant amount of time caring for their child(r ...

, a weight room and a

basketball court In basketball, the basketball court is the playing surface, consisting of a rectangular floor, with baskets at each end. Indoor basketball courts are almost always made of polished wood, usually maple, with -high rims on each basket. Outdoor sur ...

. This style of sampling from the natural world, the world around us may sometimes be referred to as "organic sounds". ''The Wisdom EP'', release on Sublight Records in September 2006, is the fifth Secret Mommy release, composed entirely of sounds made during an operation where Andy had his

wisdom teeth A third molar, commonly called wisdom tooth, is one of the three molars per quadrant of the human dentition. It is the most posterior of the three. The age at which wisdom teeth come through ( erupt) is variable, but this generally occurs betw ...

removed. ''Plays'' was a full-length put out by Ache Records in 2007, which was made to "showcase ixon'sexperience as a guitarist, songwriter, and lyricist". It was recorded at The Hive in Vancouver. The fifth Secret Mommy album, ''The Mall'' was released by Ache Records in 2011.

Other musical projects

Andy plays guitar and piano, and sings in a group called Winningbr>
with Paul Patko (who played with Andy in d.b.s. and The Red Light Sting) on drums and percussion. Their debut album, ''This Is an Ad for Cigarettes'', was released 20 March 2007 by Ache Recordsbr>
Andy played with The Secret Mommy Quintet, consisting of many people involved in the production of ''Plays'', during the first day of Music Waste 2007. Andy was also a member of Tights with Tyr and Todd from The Winks. Their only release is a split they did with the Winks in 2006 on Drip Audio Records. Andy also DJs at various events around Vancouver under the name Girlfight with Michael LaPointe. Girlfight has hosted several successful late-night outdoor dance parties, Hugeness, a monthly heat-themed event at the Grace Gallery, Sunburn, and a weekly '90s hip-hop night at the Biltmore Cabaret, House Party, during the summer of 2009. Girlfight has received favorable reviews in Discorder Magazine for House Party and for their opening set for

GZA ''Gary Eldridge Grice'' (born August 22, 1966), better known by his stage names GZA ( ) and The Genius, is an American rapper and songwriter. A founding member of the hip hop group Wu-Tang Clan, GZA is the group's "spiritual head", being both ...

Ache Records

Andy Dixon is an active member of the

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

music and art scenes, with Ache Records his most well-known endeavor. Dixon claims to have put all profits back into the label to release more records. The most well known releases to date are probably their

Death from Above 1979 Death from Above 1979 (also known as Death from Above) is a Canadian rock duo consisting of bassist Jesse F. Keeler and drummer and vocalist Sebastien Grainger from Toronto, Ontario, formed in 2001. The band released their debut album, '' You're ...

albums, and the "Divorce Series" split 7-inch records, which feature artists who break away from their typical genres. Ache Records has released albums by

Radio Berlin Radio is the technology of signaling and telecommunication, communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device ...

, Femme Fatale,

, and Konono N°1, among others.

Art

Dixon works as a freelance graphic designer; his company is The Chemistry Designs.The Chemistry Designs
/ref> He has collaborated with artist Landon Metz and the two have exhibited paintings together. In 2008, Dixon Released a book titled Weird Weight. Dixon's artwork is currently represented by grace-gallery in Vancouver. His first solo

art show An art exhibition is traditionally the space in which art objects (in the most general sense) meet an audience. The exhibit is universally understood to be for some temporary period unless, as is rarely true, it is stated to be a "permanent exhib ...

in 2008, "How to Draw Everything", showed 16 original works and sold out. Dixon has presented work in several other group shows, he is the featured artist of ArtWalk Vancouver 2010 and his second solo show, "Such Events Have Led Us Here", is in preparation at grace-gallery in February 2010. Andy works typically with mixed media on paper.

Discography

The following are solo albums released by Dixon. Released as The Epidemic: * ''I Am Completely Operational'' (2001, Ache Records) * ''Now Museum: Now You Don't'' (2002, OHEV Records) Released as Secret Mommy: * ''Babies That Hunt'' (2003, Orthlorng Musork) * ''Mammal Class'' (2003, Orthlorng Musork, Ache Records) * ''Hawaii 5.0'' EP (2004, Ache Records) * ''Very Rec'' (2005, Ache Records) * ''The Wisdom'' EP (2006, Sublight Records) * ''Plays'' (2007, Ache Records, Reluctant Recordings

double LP A double album (or double record) is an audio album that spans two units of the primary medium in which it is sold, typically either records or compact disc. A double album is usually, though not always, released as such because the recording i ...

, Powershovel Japan) * ''The Mall'' (2011, Ache Records) Released as Andy Dixon: * ''The Mice of Mt. Career'' (2008, Ache Records) Released as Caving: * ''U.S. Caves'' (2010, Ache Records)