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Two
weeks ago, I would have thought
that the idea of me interviewing
Sascha Konietzko of KMFDM would
be a funny funny joke. Two weeks
later, I have conducted the interview
and here are the results. |
KMFDM
was the first non-mainstream band I
ever heard, and as a result from the
impression left on me from that first
track ("Ultra" off of Nihil),
I delved deeper into industrial music
and assorted other avant-garde art forms,
and it ultimately changed the course
of my life (I know that sounds more
profound than it is, but "I became
a rivethead keyboard player" doesn't
sound cool). The latest album by the
underground sensation has proven to
be one of the best albums they have
ever recorded. I was given the opportunity
to interview Sascha K. a couple of weeks
ago and finally did it on October 3,
2003. This is the first serious interview
I have ever done, and since it was my
luck for the first interview I have
ever done to be with one of the figureheads
of industrial culture, I was nervous
as shit. Here is the interview. Some
editing from the original interview
has been made.
1)
What would you say some of the best
pieces of gear you have gotten since
Attak would be?
I
haven't really gotten anything since
attak other than a couple of plugins
like compressor plugins and stuff like
that. Both Attak and WWIII were recorded
and mixed on Pro-Tools systems and I
haven't really bought anything, and
if anything I used less gear in the
making of WWIII than I did on Attak.
Attak
had a lot of MIDI programming and all
kinds of gear involved because it was
an album that happened over the course
of a year and a half or two years or
so. It was something that was slowly
coming together whereas this album was
one mold like a hot piece of iron. We
just recorded drums, bass, guitar and
then cleaned, chopped, corrected, over-dubbed,
edited, and brought the machiney bits
in more and more. There was no MIDI
programming on this record, I mean hardly
at all. There was a little here and
there. Most of the stuff was kind of
played in and scooted into the right
place.
2)
The FutureRetro-777 seems to be pretty
heavy on both Attak and WWIII, what
attracted you to this synthesizer?
There's
no 777 on WWIII. The synth I most used
on WWIII was the Nord Lead II because
it was very intuitive and you just twiddle
as you go. I'm not a big fan of MIDI
programming and program changes and
patches and stuff like that. It hinders
the spontenaity and flow of the recording
session.
3)
This question has been on my mind since
I heard the very drum n' bassy "Superhero"
off of Attak. Are you a fan of Squarepusher?
No.
He's sorta on my radar but I can ever
recall ever deliberately listening to
Squarepusher. I mean it is a sort of
drum n' bass influenced kinda track,
but Squarepusher is more jazzy stuff
isn't it? Superhero was a little tune
that we initally made for the Lucia
album and when the Lucia album shaped
up in a different way it fit better
into Attak than Lucia's album. The biggest
diffence between Attak, which was KMFDM's
return to being KMFDM album, and WWIII,
which was recorded right at the end
of the Sturm und Drang tour, the main
difference was that WWIII was one hot
piece of iron that was forged one track
after another, while Attak was recruited
out of work that was done in the meantime.
That's the inherent difference.
4)
What are you listening currently?
I'm
listening to the Cramps, the Gum Club,
Sisters of Mercy; I'm momentarily into
a bit of a retro phase. What I listen
to and what I do have never had any
connection in any way.
5)
In an interview you did about a year
ago, you said that there wasn't really
much changing at all in pop music. Do
you think that has changed any?
I
haven't heard anything innovate in a
long time. I mean the pop world by definition
is music that has already broken into
the mainstream, it means it has been
around forever and is worn out and rehashed.
WWIII
was one hot piece of iron that
was forged one track after another,
while Attak was recruited out
of work that was done in the meantime.
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6)
In another interview as MDFMK, you stated
that you were against file-sharing.
Do you still hold that opinion?
I'm
not against file sharing. I am against
the reckless pirating of copyrighted
materials. That's an area that affects
me directly. The act of file sharing
in and by itself is perfectly fine,
there's nothing wrong with that. There's
nothing wrong with people testing out
music before they buy it and all that
kind of stuff. However, if it entails
reckless piracy I am against it.
7)
On the tour for this album, will there
be any surprises like the "additional
member" on the MDFMK tour?
There
will be a lot of surprises but no additional
or mechanical members. I think who is
going to be most surprised is us, probably,
you know it's always like unleashing
this animal and you don't really know
how it's going to react or what it's
gonna do.
8)
What prompted you towards having fewer
guests on the album? Before you had
several guests per album, while on Attak
and WWIII there are maybe a couple of
guests and the Pig lineup?
Well,
basically Jules and Andy turned into
sort of fixed components of KMFDM, so
the number of guests that may have been
included in the beginning has whittled
itself down to a mere few guests. There
wasn't really any need for outside input
because we had it going pretty damn
intensely and there was enough inspiration
in the camp as it stood.
9)
Would you say that all the prophetic
stuff that has been occuring recently
with your album titles is just luck
or would you say you have some sort
of insight into the ways of the world?
Well,
the title for WWIII was coined and decided
on in the last days of the last summers
tour. so we had WWIII as a title as
sort of the looming concept of this
album well before anything Bush-wise
happened. WWIII, from our point of view,
not so much to do with Bush's invasion
of Iraq. WWIII is a thing that has been
going on for a long time. In fact, I
think it was ex-Tennent (not 100% sure)
who referred to the Cold War as WWIII.
Though that is not something I would
necessarily underwrite, it even makes
sense still if you label that as WWIII
because we are children of the Cold
War. Germany as a divided country. My
youth was heavily marked by the Iron
Curtain. Trips from my hometown, Hamburg,
to Berlin would involve going through
a Soviet sector and I could see mine
fields, watch towers, barbed wire kind
of stuff. WWIII in the terms of how
we coined it is more like "There's
been a war going on for a long time
that has gone un-noticed, especially
by the American general public, a war
that manifests itself in economic abuse,
world globalization, and exploitation
of masses worldwide for the benefit
of the few very rich and wealthy powerful
people." WWIII isn't necessarily
a war that is only fought with grenades
and guns and bombs and smart weaponry,
but it's also a war that's fought on
the back of the majority of people on
this planet. Nobody ever addresses the
war in Sudan, which has been going on
for 30 years and has cost millions of
lives. Nobody was really interested
in the war in Yugoslavia, basically
our good neighbors. Genocide was basically
right in front of your doorstep and
people wouldn't say anything or do anything.
That's WWIII. It's the war that's been
going on and hasn't been named yet.
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There's
been a war going on for a long
time that has gone un-noticed,
especially by the American general
public, a war that manifests
itself in economic abuse, world
globalization, and exploitation
of masses worldwide for the
benefit of the few very rich
and wealthy powerful people.
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10)
The WWIII artwork was possibly one of
the most unsettling covers I have seen
on an album. Were you aiming for something
like that or was that Brute's idea.
Brute
has always been the one that visualizes
the sort of inspiration and keywords
we feed him. We didn't say "Paint
us a woman that holds a dead baby and
some burning oil rigs in the background".
We just told him that the theme of the
record was World War III, and to give
us two works based on that theme, and
that's what he came up with. And of
course when he delivered it, it was
probably November or early December,
the whole thing had sort of begun to
focus on Iraq and an invasion was imminent,
so the minute we got that and saw it
for the first time we were like "Right
on". This is definately going to
be harsh and this picture is harsh already.
Fortunately (or unfortunately), it takes
time to make a record. It takes awhile
to finish up and takes awhile to get
into production and turn it around.
We delivered the album in early July
and it's coming out 3 months later.
You never know what's going to happen
in that time. Things can totally change
and any political concept can outdate
and possibly moot itself and in this
case, it didn't.
Questions
from other people.
11)
Are you planning on touring Europe?
Yes,
we will definitely to to Europe. The
reason we signed with Sanctuary records
was that we were looking for a label
that has strong representation in both
the U.S. and Europe because it's very
important for us to get our leg firmly
back on the ground over there.
12)
From all the candidates for the next
president, who would you go for?
I
don't know. Nobody has really struck
me as a real candidate so far. They
are all mouthing off and blowing off
a lot of money and steam and shit but
we'll see after the primaries who stays.
The general (Wesley Clark) is a little
suspect though he's the most simpatico
of all of them I think.
13)
Anything else you would like to say
before we wrap this up, politics or
otherwise?
No,
I think all our commentary is well expressed
in WWIII. There's not much to add, otherwise
we would have added it on the record.
Well,
there you have it. WWIII is on sale
now.
Visit
KMFDM's website at www.kmfdm.net.
Everything you could want to know about
the new album and the upcoming tour
is available there, with lots of other
goodies.
-Mister Bill
