A Sound Mind

Dancespeak (also styled as Dance Speak) was a Vancouver, British Columbia–based electronic project that emerged from the same fertile mid-1980s scene that produced Images in Vogue, Skinny Puppy, and a network of synth-pop, EBM, and industrial hybrids that helped define Canada’s electronic music landscape.

The core of Dancespeak was built around Glen Nelson and Ed Shaw, both central figures in Images in Vogue, who used the project as a vehicle to explore darker, club-oriented textures beyond the band’s more melodic synth-pop framework. Their work in Dancespeak leaned toward EBM and industrial rhythms, emphasizing programmed percussion, sequenced synthesizers, and a more confrontational atmosphere suited to late-1980s alternative dance floors.

A defining element of Dancespeak was the involvement of Kim Clarke Champniss (credited on early releases as K.C.C.), whose spoken-word and vocal contributions gave the project a distinct narrative and conceptual identity. Champniss was closely connected to Images in Vogue during their formative years and later became nationally known as a MuchMusic VJ, creating an unusual point of overlap between Canada’s underground electronic scene and its mainstream music media.

The project’s earliest releases, including the Amber Records single ‘Heart of My Song’ b/w ‘Naked in the Deep (Insomnia)’ and the 1989 Intrepid Records 12-inch The Necessary Illusion, place Dancespeak within Vancouver’s industrial-adjacent orbit. Production on key tracks by Dave “Rave” Ogilvie—closely associated with the city’s industrial sound—reinforced those connections, while backing vocals from the Atalanta Sisters and distribution through BMG Music Canada reflected a project operating between independent experimentation and wider commercial infrastructure.

By the mid-1990s, the Dancespeak identity evolved further with the release of A Sound Mind on Iron Music. The album expanded the project into a more fully realized electronic statement, with Joe Vizvary handling music, programming, and performance, Champniss focusing on spoken-word and lyrical content, and contributions from figures such as Dave Rout on TB-303. Its layered production credits—spanning Ken Marshall, Dave Ogilvie, and Darrell Flint—reflect the collaborative, studio-driven character of Vancouver’s electronic scene during the period.

Taken together, the recordings issued under the Dancespeak name document a strand of Vancouver electronic activity that moved between synth-pop structures, EBM, and spoken-word electronics, shaped by musicians and producers active across multiple related projects during the same era.
-Robert Williston

Musicians
Joe Vizvary: music, programming, performer
Kim Clarke Champniss: voice, spoken word
Dave Rout: TB-303 (tracks 2, 7, 9)

Songwriting
Music written by Joe Vizvary
Words written and spoken by Kim Clarke Champniss

Production
Produced by Joe Vizvary
Co-produced and engineered by Ken Marshall
Except tracks 6 and 7, produced and re-recorded by Dave Ogilvie
Track 12 remix produced by Ken Marshall
Tracks 2, 8, and 9 engineered by Darrell Flint and Joe Vizvary
Manufactured and distributed by BMG Music Canada Inc.

Artwork
Photography by John Robert Mingo

Thanks to
Darrell Flint
Dave Rout
Dave Ogilvie
Kevin Crompton
Christina Vizvary
Michael Vizvary
Christian Vizvary
Anthony Montano
Lily Champniss
Cameron Champniss
Eliot Champniss

Notes
℗ 1997 Iron Music Group Inc.
Some copies contain a four-panel press release insert printed on card stock with graphics, lyrics, and short biographical information about the band