With the help of high school sweetheart and spouse Anna, a classically-trained pianist-vocalist who credits Aphex Twin and Portishead as formative influences, the Volt per Octaves were born to evangelize analog, at first just to intimate crowds in coffee houses and wine bars around Santa Barbara, CA. While you had to go there to hear the oscillators, the buzz made it a lot further, culminating in their opening Moogfest 2005 in New York City.
“The promoter held a contest through sonicbids.com, and we knew the caliber of some of the virtuosos submitting stuff, but said, ‘What the heck?’ We couldn’t believe it when we won, because our sound is very simple. I love the basic stuff the Mini is known for — basses, wormy leads, filter sweeps — all that stuff. I guess they decided it represented them in the right way, and the next thing we knew, we were sharing the stage at B. B. King’s with people like Jordan Rudess and Edgar Winter. Gulp!”
Currently preparing to record their first full-length album, their biggest regret is clearly, “Not getting to meet Dr. Moog before he passed on,” according to Anna. They also fondly hope daughter Eva, now seven, will join them onstage when she’s a little older. “She’s fascinated by the sound of these things, and already coming home from school complaining ‘Dad! None of the other kids know what a Moog is!’”