Is That a Sequencer in Your Pocket, or...

"It's not like I started playing music with the intention to be a one-man band," said Atom Goren, the human component of Atom and His Package (the Package is a Yamaha QY700 sequencer), talking through his cell phone on his way to New Orleans, and explaining the chain of events that led to the creation of his current musical situation, a synth-pop outfit of the most unique brand.

"I used to play guitar in a band [Fracture], and we broke up," he continues. "A friend of mine played me some songs that he wrote on his music sequencer, and I thought that was perfect."

An idea was born. Atom secured his own, um, package, and began writing music — at first, simply as a means to keep himself in a songwriting mindset. It blossomed from there.

"It's pretty much just one of those self-contained synthesized music studios — it has hundreds of different instrument sounds and a bunch of different drum set sounds and basically, it has an internal metronome that you can set to a particular time signature and tempo, then you select an instrument and play it on the keyboard, and you can overdub other instruments," he explains. "So I got one just for fun, so I could continue to write songs. Shortly after that, I set up a tour for a friend's band, Franklin, and I was going to tag long, so they said that I should bring my keyboard and play a couple of songs before them. It was fun, so I kept writing songs and playing shows."

Atom's music became his life, so much so that these days, he spends the majority of time on the road or at home in Philadelphia working on getting back on the road.

"I tour a ridiculous amount," he says. "I'm very rarely at home, but I do help run a record label with a few other folks, called File 13, out of Philadelphia. I'm been busy doing that, plus I do all the business and booking for this [Atom and His Package] stuff, so this is definitely more than a full time job. I have no other job; I have the qualifications to get one, but hope to avoid getting one for as long as possible."

Atom is certified to teach chemistry and biology to high school students, and though it's something he's been working to avoid doing, he cops to his credentials pretty readily, as he does to the probable inevitability of their application. In the meantime, however, Atom's having fun, and that's the point, though there is a message in his music.

"I mean, it is fun," he muses, "but I definitely have some strong opinions about certain things, and since I'm writing the songs, they're about things I think about, and even though I think they might come off as funny or playful, there definitely is a more serious feeling behind it. There's a song called 'Hats off to Halford' that salutes Rob Halford, the former lead singer of Judas Priest, who is openly gay in the world of metal. And while the song is silly — I'm poking fun at metal being noted for its homophobia — it's still, like, 'Fuck yeah, this guy's awesome!' There are some really stupid things going on on this planet, and I'm going to do my best to write catchy synth-pop songs about them."

At the mention of his first record, Atom kind of makes a "blech" noise and a few grunts, signaling his dissatisfaction with his initial effort. Early Atom and His Package music was lo-fi at best, sequencer-based music that, while amusing, could get a little annoying. As Atom's familiarity with his rig grew, so did his songwriting ability, and these days, his music is fuller, better crafted and a bit more serious.

"On the new album [Redefining Music], the songs are way better, it's not as overtly silly, and it was recorded a lot better. There's a little more guitar on there, but most of the music is done on the sequencer so it still sounds pretty synthesized," says Atom about his progression to date, and its manifestation on the new release. "I've gotten more and different sequencers that sound better, and there are more guitars on the new record…and I just feel that I've gotten better as a songwriter. These songs stand on their own, and it's not like it's been reinvented as a serious, serious rock band or anything like that. It's still fun, but the music is of way more importance to me than being a funny person. I mean, granted, some people like it just because it's funny, and if anyone enjoys it for whatever reason they want, that's great. I'm certainly not going tell people that they have to like for the reasons I want them to like it. But it's definitely more satisfying for me when someone says, 'Oh, I really like that song. It's funny, but the song's great, too.'"

One of the things that got Atom attention earlier in his career were his covers of classic punk rock tunes, like Fugazi's "Waiting Room," The Dead Milkmen's "Nutrition" and The Misfits' "Where Eagles Dare." Redefining Music is mostly devoid of that kind of thing — a couple of Mountain Goats songs and a unique take on Madonna's "Open Your Heart" are the only cover tunes — and that might be for the best. Atom caught a lot of flak from snobbish indie media outlets and disgruntled fans, and has, in fact, caused such a stir among some folks that there's a pretty extensive page at www.atomandhispackage.com that contains several of Atom's best hate-mails, advertisements against him taken out in 'zines and overheard nasty comments from haters. Despite the nay-sayers, though, there're plenty of people out there who like what Atom's doing, and it's not like he really cares what his detractors think, anyway.

"There are plenty of people who hate what I'm doing, and that's fine, because it's definitely not for everyone," he concedes. "Whatever, it doesn't hurt my feelings. People have different tastes, some like it and some hate it, and probably a bunch more don't care either way. I have fun doing it and will keep doing it until starts getting really stupid. And if no one likes this at all and no one at all came to any of the shows, I wouldn't be all like, 'I will continue to play out because it is for me that I am playing!' I mean, it's fun to play shows, but I don't think it would be fun to play to nobody, and I've heard the songs enough, so I don't need to play them for myself. If someone tells me that they hate it, I say 'okay.' It's not like it's so unavoidable that I feel bad for making them hate it and not be able to get away from it. It doesn't weigh on my conscience at all."

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