All right, good people. I present to you my first interview with a food synth artist: Onionville. if you find yourself turning away because you think that the stench and pathos of onions converted into synth music isn’t for you, I would argue that the emotive qualities of Onionville’s music directly speaks to both the human and the vegetative conditions. Those of you who disregard the power of food synth, particularly that steeped in lore and magnificently rotting in history, do so at their own peril.
First off, I share with you Onionville’s first album, a delightful piece of work, for you to listen to as you read our conversation. I quite like Onivoinville, he has a genuine quality that comes through in both his art and his answers to my questions. I hope you enjoy yourselves as much as I did.
Physical copies of the ‘Rotten Onions’ CD are still available from Lonesome Knight Records.
CR: What is your musical background?
O: As far as musical background, I don’t have much. My parents sent me to piano lessons when I was very young, wasn’t into it at the time and didn’t retain anything. I didn’t have my priorities straight as a 6 year old. My grandma bought me an electric guitar, and I took lessons when I was around 10 years old from this super cool old (I say old, but looking back he was probably in his 30s) rocker dude and I was really into it, but there was a pretty bad flood that wiped out his house and he ended up moving out of town. My next guitar teacher was this really old (this guy was actually old, maybe 70s?) preacher guy, he played in a church band and I would see him on the local public access channel on TV playing at his church on Sundays. He was very anti-rock, metal, punk, things like that. I remember him getting upset when I turned up the gain on the amp one time. So that didn’t last long and I didn’t end up ever going to any sort of music lessons again.
CR: So, how did you get into synth music? Where did that interest come from and what kinds of music did you first connect with?
O: I’m going to try and go about this without rambling, but there’s been decades leading up to now at this point. Growing up I used to watch Hee-Haw and The Grand Ole Opry with my grandma, which is all country and bluegrass, my dad listened to a lot of old country and rock, my mom listened to R&B, Soul, some New Age, and whatever was currently on the radio. So that’s what I grew up with in the house.
In elementary school I discovered reggae somehow and really fell in love with that which lead down the path to Dub music. Artists like Eek-A-Mouse, Barrington Levy, Scientist, and King Tubby. Still a huge fan of Dub and all the reverb and delay used in it.
My sister is 6.5 years older than me, so when I was in elementary and middle school, she was in high school. This was in the mid-90s. Which led to me borrowing every tape or CD I could get my hands on from her guy friends. That paved the way for me to discover all sorts of new music, mainly rap and metal.
Then when I was in high school I was really into Memphis and Houston area rap and also Black Metal. As an adult I still listen to the wide variety of stuff I grew up on, with sprinkles of folk music, bluegrass, Irish music, and other things I picked up along the way.
I guess the part that really brought me here was a couple years ago, I just couldn’t get enough of bands like Summoning, Caladan Brood, and Can Bardd and went searching. I stumbled across “Dungeon Synth” and it was like I found the missing piece to my puzzle. It was what I had been looking for, but didn’t know it had a name. The first projects I found were Fogweaver and Ulk and they really blew me away and then Grandma’s Cottage turned everything upside down. After that I went down the rabbit hole and now I’m here.
Here are a couple albums that really struck a chord with me through the years:
And more recently:
CR: The music sharing is delightful, thank you. So, tell me about the themes of your project and what inspired them!
O: The whole onion theme and more directly the Walla Walla Sweet Onion thing has to do with my family. My great-grandfather Giacomo came over to the Walla Walla area from Northern Italy in 1902. I’m not sure what he did in Italy, but over here he was an onion farmer.
I can drive more into the history of the Walla Walla Sweet Onion if you’d like, but I’m not sure anyone is really interested in that.
This project started out as kind of an experiment for me or maybe a learning experience, I guess. I knew I wanted to do Food Synth, because it’s quirky and fun and there’s not really any defined rules, other than a food theme and some synthy weirdness. I knew right off the bat I wanted to go the onion route, because of the family history, and kind of an ode to Walla Walla in general.
Walla Walla was known for its sweet onions, being the home of Adam West (the original Batman or the mayor from Family Guy, if you’re younger), for having a funny name (which was used in Looney Tunes quite often, i.e. The Wishy-Washy Washing Machine Company of Walla Walla, Washington), and also the Washington State Penitentiary (“The Pen” or “Concrete Mama” if you will, also a little tidbit, the song “Walla Walla” by The Offspring was written about it). Now it’s gone down the path of “wine country” like a lot of places on the West Coast, there’s lots of money in wine tourism. I guess it’s pretty good wine, but that’s not really my thing, but come check it out if that’s what you’re into.
Rotten Onions has a couple of Walla Walla related song titles. Flood of 1931 was a real flood, it’s called the worst one in Walla Walla’s history. Mill Creek is actually the river that flooded, it ran right along my family’s farm. I used to play in it when I was a kid.
My great-grandparents were long gone by the time I was born, and my family wasn’t farming anymore, but I heard a lot of stories from my dad and uncle. So, the theme is my way of connecting to a past that I didn’t get to experience and a history that a city is kind of losing. There’s still onions being farmed here, and wheat, lots of wheat. The baseball team is still the Walla Walla Sweets, but the Annual Walla Walla Sweet Onion Festival got canceled during the pandemic, and I’m not sure if that’s ever happening again.
The onion has a special place in my heart and I just wanted to connect to it in my own way. Sometimes they kind of stink, a lot of people can’t stand them, and they burn your eyes when you cut them. You either love or hate onions, and I love them.
CR: I readily admit to loving onions. I would not be bored hearing more about the Walla Walla Sweet Onions. How did you make the album? What is your creative process like?
How did the themes manifest in the creative choices you made? I really love the personal family, place, and botanical/agricultural connection. The integration of history always pleases as well.
O: I made the Rotten Onions album (demo? EP?) on Reaper. A lot of it was me just trying to figure out the program and experimenting. I have a Yamaha PSR-E363 keyboard and it has a USB output, so some of it was recorded straight off of that. Also, with that USB output you can use the keyboard as a MIDI controller, most of the album was made that way. Some of it was just writing the MIDI with the mouse. Honestly going into this I had zero experience with DAWs of any kind. I downloaded a bunch of free VSTs and just tried to see what I could come up with.
My original plan was more of a goofy, upbeat, silly Food Synth album more inline with Hot Dog Cart or Cob Gobblin’, but I couldn’t seem to make that work. Which is the exact opposite of my artwork. I’ve always wanted to draw dark, haunting, eerie or even just realistic images, but all I can seem to draw is goofy cartoons.
So I just embraced the uneasy, unsettling, unpleasant and started thinking about the dirt in the air and rotting onion smell of farming, instead of the pleasant smell of freshly cooked onions rings at the county fair. I think that fits the onion pretty well though and 2024 has brought a few dark and gloomy Food Synth releases; Hot Dog Cart’s Call of the Northern Spoon and Grandmaster Chef Naberius’ Poultry & Waterfowl.
I’ll keep trying to make upbeat music and creepy artwork, maybe I’ll figure those two things out someday. As of right now though, I’m working on two unannounced splits that are definitely doomy and gloomy.
CR: Could you talk some about what Food Synth is? I think that could be a new concept to many.
Also, what else inspires you? I know you've shared some music with us already, but I wanted to inquire if there were more musicians, artists, people, or anything really which motivates me to to wonder and create.
O: Food Synth is an offshoot of Dungeon Synth or “subgenre” if you will. I know there’s a lot of hubbub about subgenres. I wasn’t there for the inception and I’m not an expert, but some sort of food theme is necessary, whether it’s the whole project or just the album theme and other than that it just has to be weird and kind of unsettling.
Food Synth seems to be made as a side project most of the time, all the Food Synth artists I know of have another more traditional Dungeon Synth project also, or a bunch of them.
I could go on forever about other artists that inspire me. I’ve mentioned Hot Dog Cart already, but it was a big influence. The guys at High Mage are awesome, super nice, and extremely helpful. I’m a huge fan of all of their projects. Also want to shout out to Fernmage and Gorgons Alter, both of those guys are amazing artists and two of the nicest people.
I’m a big movie and book collector. Sci-fi and fantasy, which is par for the course when it comes to synth music I’d think. Planet of the Apes is my all time favorite movie, (do I need a spoiler alert it came out in 1968?) the Statue of Liberty reveal at the end was mind blowing the first time watching it. Not to be extremely cliche, but I’m a huge Lord of the Rings fan.
Elder Scrolls, Fallout, Red Dead are my main video games in the last ten years or so, they inspire me a ton. The mix of happy and sad, funny and tragic. I’m a huge sucker for side quests and finding all the little secrets.
I mentioned my art earlier, the 1940’s rubber hose animation style is a big influence for me there. I grew up watching a ton of those old cartoons and it seems like the only style I really figured out how to draw.
Just being out in nature, there’s a lot of deer and elk where I live. A few moose if you’re lucky, those are my wife’s favorite. I live pretty close to the mountains so it’s pretty easy to drive up there and hang out for an afternoon. Lots of hiking and fishing and stuff.
I recently went to the Hoh Rainforest on the peninsula in Western Washington, mind-blowing. If you ever get the chance, I would 100% recommend checking that place out. That was one of the most inspiring places I’ve ever been. Everything is damp and covered in moss, mushrooms everywhere. It’s a total fantasy setting, but in real life.
In my personal life my wife is a huge motivator, she encourages me a lot. She’s been super supportive, going to Dungeon Synth shows with me, listening to my songs before I finalize them, putting up with my tape collection, trying to snag my stickers I get with my tape orders, especially those Fiadh ones. I don’t want to get too mushy, but she really is an amazing person. Maybe I’ll talk her into starting her own project one of these days. I think she’d dwell more on the comfy/cutesy side of the genre though, and I’m alright with that.
And a little acknowledgments to:
Gorgons Alter
Fernmage
Gulik Records
Fen Wraith
Kyvon
Lored Legend
Percidae
Relics of the Eternal City
Personal Uschi Records
Grime Stone Records
Lonesome Knight Records
All very wonderful and supportive folks, except maybe Fen Wraith, but that’s why I like him.
Many thanks to Onionville for their work and for sharing their time to create this interview. I look forward to watching their body of work continue to unfold. I find it inspiring on a multitude of levels.
Here is a recent split that Onionville has recently released with Gorgons Alter: