Taken from an email reply from Tom Ellard, 30 September 2026:
In 1985 Andrew Penhallow suggested that Robert do a re-edit of “Petrol” for the 7″. Robert mangled it into a splatter of splinters which I appreciated and I made it more messed up by giving it five lock grooves. Almost a parody of an extended remix.
The next project was a couple of remixes from the album “The Big Bigot”. I was busy in 1986 doing a US/Europe tour so didn’t have quite the attention span – when these came out it was obvious he didn’t like the tracks and spat out some tedious dirges so we had to talk out our differences.
For “Bad Mood Guy” in 1987 Volition decided we’d mix it at Sony because Robert got the go ahead to do a New Order remix and we could piggy back on that studio time. The good thing was being together for the decisions – the bad bit was we had two days in the studio for a whole album, and I was so exhausted that first night I lost the master on a taxi ride so it had to be done again on day two. Albums should not be mixed in one day no matter how big the studio. That album was cursed no matter what.
So for “Rotund For Success” in 1988 we set up in a shared house on Charlotte Lane in Darlinghurst. (Robert) lived there and I would come in to work, with Volition sharing the rent. He decided that I make the coffee and always described it as ‘tea’.
“Rotund” was a proper album done over many months and with Robert dipping in here and there to add ideas. He also picked up a few techniques I used – so it became more conspiratorial. “Greater Reward” was all his baby and was recorded at EMI studios, so probably the high point in our collaboration. I just did whatever he asked and had trust in the work.
By “Cuisine” in 1991 Severed Heads had moved on to DAT digital recording. Robert had also invested in digital mastering and editing gear, so we could assemble the record at Charlotte Lane on something I called the Digital Dooly Tools. He had less to do with the LP as there was other work coming in to ‘dB Productions’. I did a track called “Twister” as a Country and Western track – he basically tore it apart and made it ‘techno’ I guess – Volition was starting to change from the curious to the popular. I wasn’t that convinced.
1990 there was “Retread”. All Robert’s versions of my stuff. We would play this style on tour for a while but ‘techno’ soon got very tedious.
(In) 1994 “Gigapus” was an ambitious album done without multi-track recording tape – the synthesizers, etc., performed direct to DAT. Rather than concentrate on the LP it was decided that Robert be unleashed on his own version of “Dead Eyes Opened”. That idea was so boring that I just let them go for it. Obviously they were right because it sold copies. Instead I worked on a CD-ROM, “Metapus”. You could buy the album with one or the other.
A couple of things happened here – Volition arranged for some nong in the UK to remix “Heart of the Party” even though their manager said to my face he hated ‘this kind of stuff’. Then finding out by accident that I was owed a lot of money. Then Robert has AIDS.
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