Ollie Olsen
Ollie Olsen (born
1958,
Melbourne, Australia) is an
Australian
composer,
synthesist and
sound designer who has been producing and performing
rock,
electronic and
experimental music for the past thirty years. He is probably best known in the mainstream for his collaboration with
Michael Hutchence,
Max Q in 1989.
Olsen began his forays into electronic music as a teenager in the mid 1970s, studying with
Felix Werder. 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). 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
1984 and attempted, unsuccessfully, to get Hugo Klang, off the ground. They returned to Australia in 1984 and played with Hugo Klang and then Orchestra of Skin and Bone and NO.
In 1984 film director
Richard Lowenstein approached Ollie to have Whirlywirld appear in the feature film
Dogs In Space. Ollie supervised the reforming of many of the 'little bands' and then worked on the production of music recordings for the soundtrack. The film was released in 1986. 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. After recording Olsen and Hutchence spent time in
New York, USA mixing the tracks, and re-mixing with
DJ Todd Terry.
Olsen later returned to Australia and turned his attentions to
trance music, co-founding Australian trance label
Psy-Harmonics with Gus' brother
Andrew Till and recording under the name
Third Eye. From the
1990s onwards he has worked increasingly in film and TV
sound design.
Olsen has lectured on and taught electronic music at various universities and symposiums and performed with a wide variety of artists from across the globe.
As of 2006, Olsen is currently 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. He recently released the album
I Am The Server throught the
Greek record label Creative Space, and an electro-acoustic album, entitled
Simulated, will be released soon.
*The Reals
*The Young Charlatans
*
Whirlywirld*Hugo Klang
*
Orchestra Of Skin And Bone*
NO*
Max Q*Third Eye
*The Visitors
*Shaolin Wooden Men
*Psyko Disko
*Antediluvian Rocking Horse
*I Am The Server
*Nominated for Best Music Score for the movie
Head On at the
Australian Film Institute Awards (AFI Awards, 2001);
*Composed music and sound design for
Troy Innocent's interactive installation Semiomorph (2001);
*Contributed the electronic component to Australian composer
Richard Mills' acclaimed opera
Batavia. (2001);
*Invited to be guest soloist with the
Australian Art Orchestra (2002);
*Recorded with Japanese bands
Boredoms and
AOA (2001-2002);
*Performed original work Generative/Regenerative live at Sonic Residues with Andrew Garton, Justina Curtis and John Powers;
*Composed sound for Andrew Garton's D3 installation at the
Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI, 2003);
*Created sound design fx for
Zhang Yimou's film
House of Flying Daggers (2004);
*Performed numerous concerts as a member of
Damo Suzuki's Network ensemble (2004-5);
* Performed as a member of the Terminal Quartet featuring
Andrew Garton with
Paul Abad and
Ross Bencina (2006).
*
Ollie Olsen's Official Site*
Psy-harmonics Official website* http://www.toysatellite.org/secession/artists/ollie_olsen.php
* http://www.michaelhutchence.org/work/maxq/
*
"No Middle Eights": An interview with Ollie Olsen
