Rocks Off Goes To Synth Central: Montrose's Fjardeson's Studios

Photos by Jef With One F

​Right in the warm, arrhythmic heart of Montrose is a convenience store on Richmond just east of Montrose Blvd. The D&Q Food Store has two things. First is the largest selection of beers in the Houston area. Seriously, they put Spec's downtown to shame. Plus the have a deal where you can mix and match a six-pack of various brews to try.

Just to the left of the entrance, the store also has a small, unmarked, barred door set in glass that has been blacked out. Behind this door lies Fjardeson's, the pulsing center of Houston's electronic scene for the past decade. From there, Al Rutter has guided, produced, recorded and hosted the cream of our fair city's synth-crop. Bozo Porno Circus called it home, as did Bamboo Crisis, Violent Blue, Asmodeus X, Silenced Within, M87 and Provision.

Rocks Off recently sat down with Rutter for a brief interview, mostly as an excuse to kill a Friday afternoon drinking Woodchuck Raspberry Cider. The studio is a one-room affair, all stone and dimly lit. At the far end is Rutter's CPU, where Freddie Mercury raises his arms to the sky on the desktop.

Just behind Rutter's workstation is a small, cozy vocal studio with a stool and a convenient ledge for alcohol. Behind that is a small restroom with a sign reminding you that throwing cigarettes in the toilet makes them soggy and hard to light. Currently, the room is full of arcade cabinets like Pac-Man and Space Invaders.

Rutter explained that when business is slow, he stores them there for repair work and resale later. Business has apparently picked up: The walls are lined with each of his tenant bands' equipment. Dire penalties befall anyone who diddles with other people's gear.

​Rutter's odyssey as overseer of the electronic scene - a scene once so widespread that synth-pop legends VNV Nation mentioned it in an interview with us this spring - began back in 1998. He had been dabbling in sound mixing for years, and agreed to help his friend Alfred McAnespy of Violent Blue with a music project.

"The first place we worked at was an un-air-conditioned office building on 290," said Rutter. "Looking back on it now, I don't think the landlord even owned the place. I'm certain he just broke in, changed the locks and charged us rent."

The circle of musicians grew, incorporating members of what would later be M87, Bamboo Crisis and Bozo Porno Circus. Eventually, Rutter and company moved their operation to an office above a wood shop, where they were eventually forced to vacate at gunpoint by a deranged landlord over a dispute. At the time, Rutter was the only member of the group with good enough credit to sign a lease, and that's when the little room on Richmond opened for business.