Theron Sunderland is a vinyl DJ and radio host on Bentonville Community Radio station KOBV, and a passionate advocate for Detroit techno, jazz and Chicago house music. He is a firm believer in giving everyone access to making music. He stopped by the Anthony and Susan Hui News Studio to explain what's happening from 2-4 p.m. Saturday at the Center for Innovation at the Fayetteville Public Library.
Sunderland: I'm going to set up Korg Volca drum machines that you can actually check out from the library for two weeks, and I'm going to set those alongside some other affordable synths to give an example of something that can be accessible — instruments that can be accessible and affordable.
Kellams: I'm going to plead some ignorance here. Korg Volca Beats drum machine — what do they look like?
Sunderland: They are about 4-by-3-inch rectangles, and they have a 1/8-inch output that can go into any stereo. They have their own little speaker. There are 16 pads across — kick, snare, kick, snare, hi-hat, hi-hat. It's very easy. Before you know it, in about 10 or 15 seconds you can have a partial song, and about five minutes you can have something that makes sense.
Kellams: If someone has never played an instrument, is it going to take a lot longer than that?
Sunderland: Not really. It has a power button right on the top of it. No need to plug it in because the speaker's there. You hit play, there's a step mode, which means it's a sequencer — it lets you sequence out each beat that you want to play. And once you know how that step sequencer moves and the little arrows that go across that let you choose the instrument, whether that be a kick, a snare, a low tom — no deep dive. It's all surface, and smaller than a protractor. You can sit it right on a desk.
Kellams: I consider a successful day when someone brings up a protractor. So let's say this drop-in lab — you don't need a reservation?
Sunderland: Nope.
Kellams: So you walk in sometime between two and four. What will you do if you're dropping in?
Sunderland: You'll see two tables in the main live room of the Center for Innovation's audio studio, and then in the smaller room, the booth room, there'll be one table. On each of those tables there will be two or three drum machines. Some will have headphones with them, some will have small speakers next to them. I have some volunteers along with myself at each table, and as a person or people approach those tables, they'll be assisted to either put on the headphones and helped to make a beat right there on the machine. They'll also be shown how to connect that to a rhythm or harmony instrument so that they not only have their beats, but they also have a partial bassline. As you approach, within about three to five minutes of sitting down, you'll feel like you are making music right there on the spot. The retention is amazing because people stay much longer than that.
Kellams: How much does one of these cost new?
Sunderland: $150.
Kellams: And that doesn't sound like a lot.
Sunderland: Exactly. And that's why I've put such a heavy focus on showing that these are accessible. And you can check these out from the library for two weeks at a time. If you're a Benton County or Washington County resident, you can have a Fayetteville Library card and check out one of these Volca Beats drum machines. It comes in a little box with instructions. It's not hard to use.
Kellams: Why do you want other people to know about this?
Sunderland: I don't think I had the right options when I was younger. Synthesizers in the early nineties, late eighties, when I was a kid, they were big and very expensive and complicated. And a lot of young people — really every age, but a lot of young people especially — use digital audio workstations on their computers. So they already know what attack, decay, release — these commands, these knobs on this little machine — do. When you put something physical in their hand to do some of the same things they've been seeing on a screen, they're wild. I mean, I'm wild. It might sound kind of puny with the little speaker that's on it, but you plug it into a system and you have a highly resonant kick. It has some serious decay on it. It's nice. I do it because I'm aware of accessibility. Northwest Arkansas has grown into a great deal of wealth of amenities and access to education, and I feel like this part's just overlooked by accident.
Kellams: There's also going to be a documentary.
Sunderland: Yes. May 6, also at the library, in the smaller theater. It's called God Said Give 'Em Drum Machines. It's a documentary about the origins of techno music from Detroit — how it was influenced by bands overseas, but also the industries in Detroit and machines making electronic music. The early Roland TR-808 and TR-909. It's about young men who made what we call Detroit techno in the late '70s and early '80s. Their most influential radio DJ was called the Electrifying Mojo, and he was from Stuttgart, Arkansas. And the filmmaker — when I accidentally met him at a show in Los Angeles, where I was living at the time — I mentioned I'm from Arkansas, home of the Electrifying Mojo. He didn't know that in the beginning, but over the last 12 years it gave greater context to the subject. He grew up in the neighborhood. That's why he's covering it. Juan Atkins, Cybotron, Derrick May, Kevin Saunderson, Inner City — the characters who made the music of Detroit techno.
It’s on May 6 — I believe it's a Wednesday — at 5:30. Free. There will be a Zoom Q&A from the filmmaker and executive producer after the show, and before it starts I might have a few drum machines up there for some Q&A as well.
Theron Sunderland will be at the Center for Innovation at the Fayetteville Public Library with those drum machines this Saturday from 2-4 p.m. for anyone interested to play. God Said Give 'Em Drum Machines screens Wednesday, May 6, also at the Fayetteville Public Library, beginning at 5:30 p.m.
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