Samuel Bruce is an artist and musician living in Western Sydney whose practice encompasses generative audiovisual abstraction, handmade electronics, a catalogue of garage sale signs and endurance karaoke. He performs crypto-occult sonic ritual as Black Math. Recordings are available from the futuristic virtual record label, Crypt Designers Guild.
What was the first band you saw live?
Either a Custard all-ages at Parramatta PCYC, or the Pet Shop Boys.
What’d you learn from them?
Custard programmed Rage at about the same time and I taped it off the air. I remember they played DEVO, and then I bought a lot of New Wave and synth-pop records. This seems important somehow.
Got any pre-gig rituals?
Lately I dose up on high-fructose corn syrup; my current jones is for Mountain Dew Code Red. Of course, a Black Math set is a form of sonic ritual, but its purpose and effects are unclear.
What do you think the most important issue facing artists in NSW is?
Solar power. High-speed Internet. Our doomed culture being swept away on a tide of its own filth. That sort of thing.
If you weren’t a musician, what do you reckon you’d be doing?
If I were sensible I’d have a proper career and such. Maybe electrical engineering? But I’m not, so I dropped out and went to art school.