Bio and contact
The Octopus Empire is the home of Scottish-born now New Zealand-based electronic musician Greg Cole.
I’ve been interested in synthesisers and electronic music since I was a very young and heard Tangerine Dream, Jarre, Wendy Carlos, OMD, Ultravox, Numan, Kraftwerk and many more for the first time. The sense of wonder I experienced at the weird noises coming out of these little boxes covered in knobs and flashing lights is as strong every time I sit down in the studio now as it was back then.
Like many electronic musicians I listen to and write in a variety of genres and the Octopus Empire is an attempt to keep all of this genre-hopping eclecticism under control. It acts like a label in a sense although it’s not really a label (yet), more just a central point collecting the various other identities I currently record under and those I will in the future.
At present I record glitchy dusty trip-hop and ‘steppy downtempo tunes under the Octopus Empire name and Drum & Bass under the Sleepwalker name, bleary-eyed purveyor of melodic/liquid/intelligent drum & bass.
I avoid the use of sampled loops and synth presets, as should more musicians, instead believing in crafting each sound needed for a particular track. I make use of analog equipment, both classic and modern, mixed with a few carefully chosen software synths.
Music is my passion, my life and my job. I have no wish to become rich as a result of writing music but I do hope to make enough money to build a small eco-neutral barn up in the Golden Bay region of the South Island of New Zealand. A big enough piece of land to be self-sufficient or close to it is the dream, to grow or hunt for the food we eat rather than earn a big salary and spend it at the supermarket and restaurants. To lead a simpler way of life. To heat the barn passively from the sun, to heat our water with solar energy and also to power the house as completely as possible. To build it using materials which will bio-degrade once we’re gone.
You can help with this dream.
If you like my music and can afford to do so – please pay for it and share it with people who you think will enjoy it. There will always be the option to download my music for free, I promise that now. If you can’t afford to pay, in return share my music with friends and contacts on Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, Stumbleupon, or just old school by telling them in the pub. When you do have the money consider buying an EP or two instead of a takeaway coffee or a beer. That’s all it takes. Hopefully enough people will pay for the music that I will be able to spend my time writing more, I certainly hope so.
All of my music is also available for licensing for sync usage, for this or any other queries please drop me an email
