Secret Mommy
Encyclopedia
Andy Dixon is a Canadian musician and graphic designer, who gained notoriety as a member of the North Vancouver
North Vancouver, British Columbia
There are two municipalities in the Greater Vancouver region of British Columbia, Canada, that use the name North Vancouver. These are:*The City of North Vancouver...

 punk rock band d.b.s.
D.b.s.
d.b.s. were a punk rock band from North Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. From their beginnings in 1992 to their eventual breakup in 2001, they gained popularity in the Canadian punk rock scene d.b.s. were a punk rock band from North Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. From their beginnings in...

  He founded the record label Ache Records
Ache Records
Ache Records is an independent record label based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It was started by musician Andy Dixon around 1999. Ache releases music for both Canadian and international acts. The first release on Ache Records was Hot Hot Heat's 1999 debut, Hot Hot Heat, a four-song EP...

, 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
Glitch (music)
Glitch is a term used to describe a genre of electronic music that emerged in the mid to late 1990s. The glitch aesthetic is characterized by a deliberate use of glitch based sonic artifacts that would normally be viewed as unwanted disturbances reducing the overall sound quality and are thus...

/IDM
Intelligent dance music
Intelligent dance music is a term that describes an electronic music genre that emerged in the early 1990s. The genre is influenced by a wide range of musical styles particularly electronic dance music such as Detroit Techno...

 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
North Vancouver, British Columbia
There are two municipalities in the Greater Vancouver region of British Columbia, Canada, that use the name North Vancouver. These are:*The City of 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.

d.b.s.

Andy Dixon began playing guitar in the band d.b.s.
D.b.s.
d.b.s. were a punk rock band from North Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. From their beginnings in 1992 to their eventual breakup in 2001, they gained popularity in the Canadian punk rock scene d.b.s. were a punk rock band from North Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. From their beginnings in...

 around the age of twelve in 1991 with band mates Paul Patko (drums
Drum kit
A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....

), Jesse Gander (vocals
Singing
Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...

), and Dhani Borges (bass), drawing from influences such as Bad Religion
Bad Religion
Bad Religion is a punk rock band that formed in Los Angeles in 1979. Their current line-up consists of Greg Graffin , Brett Gurewitz , Jay Bentley , Greg Hetson , Brian Baker and Brooks Wackerman . Gurewitz is also the founder of the label Epitaph Records, which has released almost all of the...

 and, later, Jawbreaker
Jawbreaker (band)
Jawbreaker was an American punk rock band active from 1986 to 1996 and considered one of the most influential acts of the early-1990s emo movement...

. 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
Forget Everything You Know
Forget Everything You Know is the final album released by the North Vancouver punk band d.b.s. It was released by Ache Records on April 1, 2001. Only 1000 copies were pressed.The band's sound on this album has been likened to The Promise Ring....

, regarded as their most mature effort. Forget Everything You Know was released on Dixon's Ache Records
Ache Records
Ache Records is an independent record label based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It was started by musician Andy Dixon around 1999. Ache releases music for both Canadian and international acts. The first release on Ache Records was Hot Hot Heat's 1999 debut, Hot Hot Heat, a four-song EP...

.

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
Post-hardcore
Post-hardcore is a genre of music that developed from hardcore punk, itself an offshoot of the broader punk rock movement. Like post-punk, post-hardcore is a term for a broad constellation of groups...

, with noise core
Noise rock
Noise rock describes a style of post-punk rock music that became prominent in the 1980s. Noise rock makes use of the traditional instrumentation and iconography of rock, but incorporates atonality and especially dissonance, and also frequently discards usual songwriting conventions.-Style:Noise...

 influences. Gregory Adams's vocals ranged from screaming to soft singing. Zoë Verkuylen played a Roland Juno-60
Roland Juno-60
The Roland Juno-60 is a popular analogue 61-key polyphonic synthesizer produced by Roland Corporation in the early 1980s and a successor to the slightly earlier Juno-6. Like its predecessor, the Juno-60 has some digital enhancements, used only for clocking the oscillators and for saving and loading...

 keyboard as a rhythm
Rhythm
Rhythm may be generally defined as a "movement marked by the regulated succession of strong and weak elements, or of opposite or different conditions." This general meaning of regular recurrence or pattern in time may be applied to a wide variety of cyclical natural phenomena having a periodicity or...

 instrument, often playing off key notes and dissonant 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 and Vancouver
Vancouver
Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...

 in early September 2004. In that time, they released two EP
Extended play
An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...

's—And Our Love is Soaking in It and Rub 'Em Out—as well as a split LP
Gramophone record
A gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...

 with Hot Hot Heat
Hot Hot Heat
Hot Hot Heat is a Canadian indie rock band formed in 1999 from Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.-Career:Dustin Hawthorne and Steve Bays had been in many different bands together since 1995 and met Hawley in 1998. In 1999, Hawley bought a Juno 6 keyboard and asked Bays to try playing it, as no one...

. 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
Ache Records
Ache Records is an independent record label based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It was started by musician Andy Dixon around 1999. Ache releases music for both Canadian and international acts. The first release on Ache Records was Hot Hot Heat's 1999 debut, Hot Hot Heat, a four-song EP...

, and his solo music project, now called Secret Mommy.

Secret Mommy

His first full length album as Secret Mommy, Babies That Hunt, was released on Orthlorng Musork of San Francisco, 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 (singer)
Alecia Beth Moore , better known by her stage name Pink , is an American singer-songwriter, musician and actress....

, Mary J. Blige
Mary J. Blige
Mary Jane Blige is an American singer-songwriter, record producer and occasional actress. She is a recipient of nine Grammy Awards and four American Music Awards, and has recorded eight multi-platinum albums. She is the only artist with Grammy Award wins in Pop, Rap, Gospel, and R&B. Blige has...

, Andrew W.K.
Andrew W.K.
Andrew W.K. is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, entertainer, and motivational speaker. He is the host of the television series Destroy Build Destroy.-Early life & career:Andrew Wilkes-Krier was born in Stanford, California, and grew up in Ann Arbor, Michigan...

, Britney Spears
Britney Spears
Britney Jean Spears is an American recording artist and entertainer. Born in McComb, Mississippi, and raised in Kentwood, Louisiana, Spears began performing as a child, landing acting roles in stage productions and television shows. She signed with Jive Records in 1997 and released her debut album...

, Shania Twain
Shania Twain
Shania Twain, OC is a Canadian country pop singer-songwriter. Her album The Woman in Me , brought her fame and her 1997 album Come On Over, became the best-selling album of all time by a female musician in any genre, and the best-selling country album of all time. It has sold over 40 million...

, Justin Timberlake
Justin Timberlake
Justin Randall Timberlake is an American pop musician and actor. He achieved early fame when he appeared as a contestant on Star Search, and went on to star in the Disney Channel television series The New Mickey Mouse Club, where he met future bandmate JC Chasez...

, Arab on Radar
Arab on Radar
Arab on Radar are 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 The Chinese Stars, Athletic Automaton, Made in Mexico, and most recently Doomsday Student...

, as well as some more unconventional sounds: elephants, frogs, pigs
PIGS
PIGS is a four letter acronym that can stand for:* PIGS , Phosphatidylinositol glycan anchor biosynthesis, class S, a human gene* PIGS , the economies of Portugal, Italy , Greece and Spain...

, French educational records, balloons, eating noises.

For his third release, Dixon used samples from a trip to Hawaii
Hawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...

, 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
Hawaii Five-O is an American police procedural drama series produced by CBS Productions and Leonard Freeman. Set in Hawaii, the show originally aired for twelve seasons from 1968 to 1980, and continues in reruns. The show featured a fictional state police unit run by Detective Steve McGarrett,...

.

Making use of handmade hidden condenser microphones 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
Tennis court
A tennis court is where the game of tennis is played. It is a firm rectangular surface with a low net stretched across the center. The same surface can be used to play both doubles and singles.-Dimensions:...

s, a swimming pool
Swimming pool
A swimming pool, swimming bath, wading pool, or simply a pool, is a container filled with water intended for swimming or water-based recreation. There are many standard sizes; the largest is the Olympic-size swimming pool...

, a soccer field, a yoga
Yoga
Yoga is a physical, mental, and spiritual discipline, originating in ancient India. The goal of yoga, or of the person practicing yoga, is the attainment of a state of perfect spiritual insight and tranquility while meditating on Supersoul...

 studio, an ice rink, a squash
Squash (sport)
Squash is a high-speed racquet sport played by two players in a four-walled court with a small, hollow rubber ball...

 court, a dance studio, a dojo
Dojo
A is a Japanese term which literally means "place of the way". Initially, dōjōs were adjunct to temples. The term can refer to a formal training place for any of the Japanese do arts but typically it is considered the formal gathering place for students of any Japanese martial arts style to...

, a daycare, a weight room and a basketball court
Basketball court
In basketball, the basketball court is the playing surface, consisting of a rectangular floor with tiles at either end. In professional or organized basketball, especially when played indoors, it is usually made out of a wood, often maple, and highly polished...

. 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
Sublight Records
Sublight Records was a Canadian record label started in 2004 by Aaron Rintoul and ran until June 2007. Based out of Winnipeg, Canada. It was named among the top 25 indie record labels of 2006 by XLR8R magazine - "Sublight has gone from spewing out splattered beats fresh from bedrooms where the sun...

 in September 2006, is the fifth Secret Mommy release, composed entirely of sounds made during an operation where Andy had his wisdom teeth removed.

Plays is the most recent Secret Mommy release, a full length put out by Ache Records, which was made to "showcase [Dixon's] experience as a guitarist, songwriter, and lyricist". It was recorded at The Hive in Vancouver.

Other musical projects

Andy plays guitar and piano, and sings in a group called Winning http://www.wearewinning.ca, with Paul Patko (who played with Andy in d.b.s.
D.b.s.
d.b.s. were a punk rock band from North Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. From their beginnings in 1992 to their eventual breakup in 2001, they gained popularity in the Canadian punk rock scene d.b.s. were a punk rock band from North Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. From their beginnings in...

 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 Records
Ache Records
Ache Records is an independent record label based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It was started by musician Andy Dixon around 1999. Ache releases music for both Canadian and international acts. The first release on Ache Records was Hot Hot Heat's 1999 debut, Hot Hot Heat, a four-song EP...

 http://www.acherecords.com. Andy played with The Secret Mommy Quintet, consisting of many people involved in the production of Plays, during the first day of Music Waste
Music Waste
Music Waste is an annual music, art, and comedy festival held in Vancouver, British Columbia. It began in 1994 as a protest against the entry fees of the corporate-sponsored New Music West festival...

 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
GZA
Gary Grice , better known by his stage names GZA and The Genius, is an American hip hop artist and founding member of the seminal hip hop group the Wu-Tang Clan. He has also appeared on his fellow clan members' solo projects and has maintained a successful solo career...

.

Ache Records

Andy Dixon is an active member of the Vancouver, British Columbia music and art scenes, with Ache Records
Ache Records
Ache Records is an independent record label based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It was started by musician Andy Dixon around 1999. Ache releases music for both Canadian and international acts. The first release on Ache Records was Hot Hot Heat's 1999 debut, Hot Hot Heat, a four-song EP...

 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
Death from Above 1979 are a Toronto-based Canadian dance-punk/noise rock duo. Their album, You're a Woman, I'm a Machine, was released in late 2004. The band broke up in 2006, but announced a reunion in 2011.-History:...

 albums, and the "Divorce Series" split 7" records, which feature artists who break away from their typical genres.

Ache Records has released albums by Hot Hot Heat
Hot Hot Heat
Hot Hot Heat is a Canadian indie rock band formed in 1999 from Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.-Career:Dustin Hawthorne and Steve Bays had been in many different bands together since 1995 and met Hawley in 1998. In 1999, Hawley bought a Juno 6 keyboard and asked Bays to try playing it, as no one...

, Radio Berlin, Femme Fatale, Death from Above 1979
Death from Above 1979
Death from Above 1979 are a Toronto-based Canadian dance-punk/noise rock duo. Their album, You're a Woman, I'm a Machine, was released in late 2004. The band broke up in 2006, but announced a reunion in 2011.-History:...

, and Konono N°1
Konono N°1
Konono Nº1 is a Grammy nominated musical group from Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo. They combine three electric likembé with voices, dancers, and percussion instruments that are made out of items salvaged from a junkyard...

, among others.

Art

Dixon works as a freelance graphic design
Graphic design
Graphic design is a creative process – most often involving a client and a designer and usually completed in conjunction with producers of form – undertaken in order to convey a specific message to a targeted audience...

er; his company is The Chemistry Designs. He has collaborated with American Apparel
American Apparel
American Apparel is a clothing manufacturer in the United States. It is a vertically integrated clothing manufacturer, wholesaler, and retailer that also performs its own design, advertising, and marketing...

 designer Landon Metz
Landon Metz
Landon Metz is an American artist living in New York City. His work is concerned with an elevated consciousness he believes to be synonymous with a state of "no mind" and addresses the non-dual nature of the universe therewithin. Metz resides with his wife Hannah Kristina Metz.-External links:***...

 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 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 Compltely Oprationa l (2001, Ache Records
    Ache Records
    Ache Records is an independent record label based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It was started by musician Andy Dixon around 1999. Ache releases music for both Canadian and international acts. The first release on Ache Records was Hot Hot Heat's 1999 debut, Hot Hot Heat, a four-song EP...

    )
  • 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
    Ache Records
    Ache Records is an independent record label based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It was started by musician Andy Dixon around 1999. Ache releases music for both Canadian and international acts. The first release on Ache Records was Hot Hot Heat's 1999 debut, Hot Hot Heat, a four-song EP...

    )
  • Hawaii 5.0 EP (2004, Ache Records
    Ache Records
    Ache Records is an independent record label based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It was started by musician Andy Dixon around 1999. Ache releases music for both Canadian and international acts. The first release on Ache Records was Hot Hot Heat's 1999 debut, Hot Hot Heat, a four-song EP...

    )
  • Very Rec (2005, Ache Records
    Ache Records
    Ache Records is an independent record label based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It was started by musician Andy Dixon around 1999. Ache releases music for both Canadian and international acts. The first release on Ache Records was Hot Hot Heat's 1999 debut, Hot Hot Heat, a four-song EP...

    )
  • The Wisdom EP (2006, Sublight Records
    Sublight Records
    Sublight Records was a Canadian record label started in 2004 by Aaron Rintoul and ran until June 2007. Based out of Winnipeg, Canada. It was named among the top 25 indie record labels of 2006 by XLR8R magazine - "Sublight has gone from spewing out splattered beats fresh from bedrooms where the sun...

    )
  • Plays (2007, Ache Records
    Ache Records
    Ache Records is an independent record label based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It was started by musician Andy Dixon around 1999. Ache releases music for both Canadian and international acts. The first release on Ache Records was Hot Hot Heat's 1999 debut, Hot Hot Heat, a four-song EP...

    , Reluctant Recordings [double LP], Powershovel [Japan])
  • The Mall EP (2011, Ache Records
    Ache Records
    Ache Records is an independent record label based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It was started by musician Andy Dixon around 1999. Ache releases music for both Canadian and international acts. The first release on Ache Records was Hot Hot Heat's 1999 debut, Hot Hot Heat, a four-song EP...

    )


Released as Andy Dixon:
  • The Mice of Mt. Career (2008, Ache Records
    Ache Records
    Ache Records is an independent record label based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It was started by musician Andy Dixon around 1999. Ache releases music for both Canadian and international acts. The first release on Ache Records was Hot Hot Heat's 1999 debut, Hot Hot Heat, a four-song EP...

    )

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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