Lithuanian experimental electronic musician and psychologist Richard Norvila, alias Benzo loves the noise of Moscow that hums like a merciless meat grinder mixing together everything Russian, Tartar, Armenian, and Azerbaijani to create the mince of Moscow life. This forms the basis for his music which loner Norvila produces. in his music studio in a single room apartment are stacked dozens of old synthesizers, mixing desks and samplers "made in Russia" with a warm dusty sound for which many freaks in the West would gladly swap their entire record collection. "As a rule almost all the instruments acquired by Benzo are sick and therefore I have to develop new therapeutic strategies for them" says Richard Norvila. "As I trained as a psychotherapist this activity suits me."
 
With the help of Lithuanian electronics expert Pranas Zenkevitcius and the two Moscow electronics handymen, Anatolij Schub and Raphael Gafarov, Richard gave his machine patients a second life. For example Anatolij Schub developed MIDI and CV-Gate Interfaces for Russian synthesizers, making sequence control of these machines possible. Pranas Zenkevitcius modified a lie detector produced in Lithuania making a sound generator out of it. As samples Benzo uses old Russian vinyl discs only and calls what is produced "Benzo House". "The synthesizer always tells a story, if you allow it to do so. If, when playing a Russian machine, you try to be precise then you have problems. It's simply not possible. Therefore playing live is always a performance as my 'synthies' do what they want, sometimes, however, I'm allowed play as well."
 
Norvila is not only a psychotherapist but also has a doctorate in philosophy and since the age of 14 has fiddled around with electronics. Since 1998 he has run the audio-ethnographic project Benzo. The name Benzo comes from Benzin (Russian for petrol, gasoline).
 
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