Sinan Revell (SPK)

Sinan Leong Revell has been part of SPK for most of the group’s existence and she, along with Caroline K and Cosey Fanni Tutti, was among the few girls of the 80s industrial music culture.
In July, I met her son Robert at the Vinyl On Demand Festival: he played there along with his father Graeme as SPK (they also did another gig a few days before in Pordenone).
Talking with him, I asked about his mother as I wasn’t aware of what she did after SPK ended, so I thought to contact her to ask some questions.
She has been one of the people who lost everything in the Los Angeles fires and with her home, she also lost everything they had about SPK.
Everything was destroyed!
At the end of the year, a boxed set will be released and probably also a memoir she wrote.
Enjoy the read and check her website www.sinanrevell.com

Chain D.L.K.: How did you meet Graeme? Was he already involved with SPK and Neil Hill?

Sinan: I met Graeme through a mutual friend, Neil Hill. Graeme had started a band, SPK.

Chain D.L.K.: SPK self-produced their first 7-inch records in Australia. What was the music and distribution scene like there for indie music at the time?

Sinan: The indie music scene in Australia was just beginning and industrial music was at the incipient stage. Distribution was through private networking. There was no established distribution.

Chain D.L.K.: When and why did you decide to move to the UK?

Sinan: Graeme decided to move to the UK as there were more opportunities for the industrial/noise/synthesiser kind of sound.

Chain D.L.K.: How did you organize yourselves once you were there?

Sinan: We were friends with Nigel Ayers, in South London. We also stayed in a council flat in Vauxhall, south London. TG were set up in North London.

Chain D.L.K.: You collaborated with Nigel Ayers of Nocturnal Emissions and his label Sterile Records, as well as with TG’s Industrial Records. Can you tell me more about those collaborations?

Sinan: We knew of TG but never collaborated with them or with Nocturnal Emissions. Everyone did their own thing separately. No one collaborated, as each band was establishing itself as a separate musical identity.

Chain D.L.K.: As far as I remember, there were very few women in the industrial scene: you, Caroline K and Cosey Fanni Tutti. How difficult was it to navigate that environment?

Sinan: There weren’t really other women in the industrial scene. It didn’t bother me as I encountered racial prejudice in the acting scene in Sydney. I was always typecast as a native girl and had to speak with an accent in any roles. The TV and film scene was very parochial then so I turned to singing. This turned out to be the right move as being different was not a disadvantage. It was difficult to get gigs in London as a band from Australia as the English were not interested in Aussies and tended to look down on them as inferior colonials.
Not a big issue as we finally got a good review from Chris Bohn for the NME – the New Musical Express, which was a major force in the indie scene. We were also reviewed positively by Dave Henderson from The Melody Maker. These positive reviews helped immensely to give SPK credibility in London.

Chain D.L.K.: Regarding your work with SPK, was it more about music or a form of art for you?

Sinan: My involvement with SPK was on many dimensions – vocal, using native sounds, writing lyrics, researching ideas and images for inspiration, finding photographic slides for our shows, creating another perspective – the female, native and “other’ perspective.
Graeme attests that I created the lyrics, hook and chorus of our “commercial” pop hit “Metal Dance” which landed us on “The Tube”.
Not being trained as a musician, I had mainly listened to the radio and sang alto at my school choir.
As an actor,I had learned method acting and as an artist, I took classes in Butoh, a unique Japanese movement plus I was aware of performance art.
I do not restrict or restrain my performance art as it encompasses sound, visual, conceptual as well as musical ideas.

Chain D.L.K.: In your performances, you often put yourselves in danger with things like flamethrowers and sanders. How much control did you have over the situation?

Sinan: Flamethrowers and sanders might look dangerous but as with tools and instruments, you just learn how to handle these things with control and care. I once set a young guy’s big mohawk on fire, but his friends helped him and they loved that kind of stage “Accident’. During our years on stage, we never injured any audience member. Graeme would mock throw an oil drum into the audience and they would scatter so no one was injured. The only person who ever sustained injuries was Graeme! He had a spark from the angle grinder fly into his eye in Germany. He cut his thumb on stage in Sydney and was rushed to the hospital in mid-show. He returned after the medics stitched it up.
While smashing wine bottles on stage, Graeme hung garden mesh to protect the audience in Sydney (Trade Union Show). Whilst 7 months pregnant, I made sure to turn my baby belly away from any flying metal. Of course, the soundcheck and performance got through and my baby, Robert, turned out to be a talented musician.,

Chain D.L.K.: How did you get contacted by WEA?

Sinan: We were contacted by Fiction Records in London and after “Metal Dance” became successful for us, WEA contacted Graeme.

Chain D.L.K.: I’m curious about your BBC performance on The Tube show. How did you convince them to let you bring metal sheets, barrels, and hammers?

Sinan: The Tube contacted us to do “Metal Dance” as it had gotten on to the pop charts. They would have had fire safety in place. In fact, when we were slated to play at The Venue – the stagehands were so afraid of fire that they just threw buckets of water on Graeme and shut down the show. The curtain came down on my head. I avoided injury by quick reactions. We also did John Peel radio sessions.

Chain D.L.K.: Your early themes dealt with psychological illness linked to society, but they changed with “Machine Age Voodoo.” Can you tell me more about the lyrics on that album?

Sinan: Graeme had worked as a psychiatric nurse and wrote his lyrics, which reflected those issues: “Bomb for inner peace”.
Machine Age Voodoo was an attempt to write more commercial work with the new computer musical instrument, the Fairlight, an Aussie invention.

Chain D.L.K.: What led to the end of your deal with WEA?

Sinan: WEA were just using us a a write off. They were jumping on the industrial bandwagon, but did not promote us.

Chain D.L.K.: On the following two albums, “Zamia Lehmanni” and “Gold and Poison” you are only involved in a few tracks, according to the liner notes. Can you explain why that was?

Sinan: “Zamia Lehmanni” was Graeme’s adventure into a more abstract, filmic world. “Gold & Poison” was for a Canadian group – Nettwerk and Graeme wanted to promote another singer, Karina. However, her voice did not go down well, being criticized as too reedy or nasal.

Chain D.L.K.: SPK’s activities stopped because Graeme started working on Hollywood movie soundtracks. Did you switch to another form of art?

Sinan: After SPK, I turned to writing and also painting, which was what I had studied also. I love exploring other challenging art dimensions – the plastic arts, ceramics.
I was brought up with my dad singing Chinese opera and also exposed to brush calligraphy.

Chain D.L.K.: You were raised in Australia, but Chinese culture seems to be a significant part of your work, particularly in your paintings and ceramics: some of your paintings are inspired by Oriental calligraphy due to the use of those specific ink strokes. What is your approach when you work on these? How much improvisation is involved?

Sinan: The ink brush is immediate, expressive and spontaneous. Black in brush reflects the zen of the moment and there are no mistakes.

Chain D.L.K.: I’ve seen photos of your ceramics and I recognized the shoes that girls were forced to wear, which deformed their feet. You mentioned that your grandmother had to wear them. Can you tell me more about this?

Sinan: The Chinese custom of footbinding is well documented and maimed and enslaved women.

Chain D.L.K.: You also told me about the photos influenced by the color blind tests…

Sinan: My COLOR BLIND series was a statement about our acquired blindness to the things we CHOOSE to not see eg. Poverty, racial inequality etc.

Chain D.L.K.: Do you miss making music?

Sinan: I have just created a music-based CD with my son for release at the end of 2025. It is part of a boxed set – music, art and excerpts referencing SPK, from my memoir.
Chandra Shukla is printing the boxed set.