Olympic Pool Maintenance League (OPML) is a techno-trance music producer and contemporary artist Chris Bennie.
OPML has released on Mord (Bareknuckle Boxing Vol 1-3, Herdersmat Parts 34-40), Postdynamic (New Faces 1+2), and Natura Viva (Tornado).OPML's 'Empathy' EP (available digitally and on vinyl) contains three original tracks and two remixes, one by Head Front Panel and the other by Giorgio Gigli.
OPML has produced numerous EPs including Antipodean Logic (Sub Label Recordings); The King of Karaoke (Sub Label Recordings); The Calming Cloud (Pocketmoth); Dawn Wind (Sunora); The Trickster Is No Fool (Oni Recordings); and Pipe Dreams (Occultech).
OPML's debut LP 'The Warp Order' was released on Sunora Recordings (Germany) in 2021.
Who is Olympic Pool Maintenance League... OPML is techno producer, DJ and artist Chris Bennie. Chris was born in Invercargill, New Zealand, and grew up in Christchurch before moving to Australia to complete an undergraduate and doctoral degree in visual art. Chris began OPML in 2019 and has released music on major techno labels including Mord, Postdynamic, Natura Viva and Diffuse Reality.
I sound like... OPML is a fusion of '90s trance music and contemporary hypnotic techno. OPML's trance influences include Oliver Lieb, Air Liquide, Eternal Basement, Marmion, and CJ Bolland; while hypnotic references include Donato Dozzy, Giorgi Gigli, Svarog, Joachim Speith and Quelza.
When did you settle on your artistic name... Olympic Pool Maintenance League is a name I landed on after many false starts, but is intended to reference a time when electronic music was nameless and faceless. Artists and DJs used to assume curious, playful, or downright ridiculous names to elucidate a mysterious essence to listeners and party goers.
One of my favourites will always be Garth The Donkee, host of The Amorphous Show, a weekly programme of electronic music on Christchurch's student radio station RDU. Faceless Techno Bastards is also a good example. As a swimmer, Olympic Pool Maintenance League is also fitting.
In the studio... As an electronic music producer, my studio time needs to be split across numerous tasks including writing, arranging, mixing and mastering. This can sometimes be overwhelming, so having a clear objective each time I walk in to the studio is important in order to finish music.
My most pleasurable moments, however, take place after a sketching session when ideas ferment and tracks with meaning start to emerge. That moment is also fraught with anxiety – the prospect of f...ing up a good idea is always present and can sometimes be debilitating.
Experience helps, and now I can complete an idea to a satisfactory level most of the time. Whether it makes the cut for release or not is another story. I'm not sure about other producers, but my rate of finished tracks to sketches is about one in ten.
If I could tour with anyone... I've been enamoured with the outdoor hypnotic scene in Japan and Europe for a long time now. The crème de la crème of this scene is Labyrinth Festival, Japan, which has played host to some of the world's finest hypnotic producers in a lush outdoor forest setting for nearly two decades.
In that sense I'd love to play alongside some of its regulars: Donato Dozzy and DJ Nobu or Affin Records label boss Joachim Spieth. Their focus on textural elements, frequencies, atmosphere and emotion within electronic music is so inspiring to me as both a producer and dancer, and it's within the same pedigree that these producers belong, and the geographical contexts that their music speaks to, that I hope Olympic Pool Maintenance League finds a home.
In the meantime, I'm excited to be delivering a hypnotic night of electronic and techno music to Brisbane audiences on 15 April at KEPK. I'm planning on creating an immersive, distraction-free environment for dancers by separating the dance floor from the DJs, and lighting the space with candles. The event also doubles as a celebration for the release of my first vinyl 12-inch (titled 'Empathy' on Spain's Diffuse Reality Recordings).
My favourite app at the moment... With regard to music production is without doubt Ableton. While I started out on hardware for many years (Elektron Analogue 4 and RYTM, Roland sh01a and TB03, and a Korg EMX1), nothing beats the functionality, ease of use, and now, arguably sound design characteristics of a Digital Audio Workstation.
As a sequencer it has no limitations, and because of its ease of use, everything that is needed to produce incredible electronic music is accessible, reliable and fast. I still jam ideas on hardware, but in the game I am playing, to produce finished pieces of art, it's imperative to finish tracks regularly and quickly. Ableton makes that possible.
Life as an artist is both rewarding and damned. I've scarified security for uncertainty and comfort for exploration. I consistently negotiate the task of making something meaningful and dealing with the quotidian in order to sustain doing so (ie. working).
I've followed a creative impulse my whole life and it's been incredibly rewarding but also challenging. Despite lots of successes, including winning art awards, travelling to international residencies, and having incredible new experiences, both my art and music are unsustainable projects. Admittedly neither are overtly commercial but the impulse to continue however is still very strong.
If you had to live in a city abroad, where would you choose and why? I've been seriously considering this one for a few years now. Berlin is obviously important for the music I make, but more than that, its art scene and history provides an important tension that I think is good for artists to negotiate.
However, in 2018 I spent a month in Sam Rit, Thailand, on residency and fell in love with that country. I often wonder if it's better to go somewhere nice, with great people, good food, and warm weather, rather than chase industry relevance. On that note, Brisbane is pretty damn good after all.
If we were coming over to your place, what would you cook us? A spicy and delicious Tom Yum soup.
Last show you binge-watched? 'ZeroZeroZero' on SBS. A beautifully shot and intensely structured eight-part drama recounting three perspectives on a Mexican drug deal, washed over by an undulating, hypnotic, and at times down right frenetic soundtrack by Mogwai. Incredible stuff.
Olympic Pool Maintenance League hosts the 'Empathy' EP launch at KEPK Artspace (Brisbane) 15 April.
