"Why pretend EBM ended in 1986, while it actually reached its climax later?"
There aren't many
dark electronic releases that came out in 2015 and got a top rating (8,5 stars
or more) from me. I'm sure I've missed out on a bunch of great albums, but
that's just a problem I face every year. Fortunately, there's one album that
really did impress me, to the extent I ended up giving it 9 stars. It's the
triple album 'Code Ultimate Control' by the old-school electro/EBM band TET. In
fact, I like it so much I asked CS/TET if he was interested in doing an
interview, which is something I seldom propose. He was very enthusiastic and
agreed, resulting in the following dialogue.
Hi CS/TET, can you please
introduce your band? Who are the members, where are they from and when was TET
founded? Just any background information you'd like to share.
CS/TET: TET (Travailleur En Trance) was
founded by me back in May 1993
in the very north of Germany, after getting my first serious
synth and sequencer. It was originally an open electronic project, but very
quickly, the EBM aspect started to dominate. I had been into EBM since the late
80s and already been active in several other electronic projects. The first
phase of TET only lasted until about '95-'96, at which point I felt EBM was no
longer there. There was simply too much boring US guitar crossover, while several
important bands of the 80s had entirely ceased giving creative input to the
scene. The most interesting electronic danceable sounds then emerged from different
areas, from new artists like Aphex Twin, Autechre or Cristian Vogel. So that's
where I went, later releasing several vinyl with another project, of which at
least one even made it into the hands of John Peel.
But of course, you never really forget your
roots. In the mid 2000s, I felt the urgent need to reactivate TET, and we
released the debut album 'Ultima Ratio Intervention' in 2005 on our own label, followed
by 'Cobra Coded Escalation' 3 years later. These releases were received quite
well. Therefore, the second TET phase didn't end quickly like the first one did
after 2-3 years - we have now been active continuously for 11 years and still
don't feel like quitting! The TET band members are CS/TET and RI/TET (an
ice-cold man controlling TET's live machinery since the first gig in 1994).
How did you come up
with the band name Travailleur En Trance? You're a German band and most of your
songs are in English, so why this French name?
CS/TET: The French name was chosen because
it sounded good, and back in those days we also had some French lyrics. It also
meant that TET was a mixture of early EBM (travailleur = worker) and more
modern elements (in 1993, trance music wasn't evil yet, but something new and
fresh).
I'm not so fond of that anymore, because in the
end, the amount of "worker" tracks by TET was never enough to really
justify the "travailleur". Other influences like high-tech cyber war,
surveillance, lunatic self-justice, action movie samples, the occasional
monster etc. have always been primary for TET, even back in the tape days.
To my surprise, more and more people now
suddenly seem to remember TET as Travailleur En Trance, but I personally prefer
TET since it sounds more universal.
Your first releases from
the 90s are solely available on tape. I assume that was a deliberate choice? If
so, why did you change to the CD format when you released 'Ultima Ratio
Intervention' in 2005?
CS/TET: I think the vast majority of the
bands releasing tapes in the early 90s wasn't doing that deliberately - they
were all aiming for a CD deal, and so was TET. However, the tape scene
consisted of very dedicated people, with some taking their tape labels really
seriously. It was the only viable way for unknown bands to get a little
attention by spreading their music, so it was cool. I had been releasing tapes with
other projects long before TET was created.
In 2005, it was not an option anymore to
release a tape. Finding a manufacturing company doing limited runs would have
been very difficult and hence the costs too high. And since most people
probably dumped their tape decks at the end of the 90s, who would have been
able to play it? That being said, maybe "TET and tapes" is not
completely history. Some claim for example that a hidden track from the tape
era was released on 'Code Ultimate Control'...
It took you 4 years to
complete 'Code Ultimate Control'. Was there any particular reason for the
delay? My guess is you're a perfectionist who pays meticulous attention to
detail. I think you're not easily satisfied and keep doing everything over and
over again until you get it 100% right?
CS/TET: 'Code Ultimate Control' was
originally planned as a regular album, 'Controlling The Night Skies', which has
now become CD 1 of 'Code Ultimate Control'. Then the need arose to re-work the
most important tracks from the previous albums for live use, so everything
would fit together better. From there, things got a little out of hand... First
it was a double CD, then a triple, because the new material also turned out to
be too long for one CD and I didn't want to shorten it too drastically. So some
new tracks were exported onto CDs 2 and 3. In the end it became the monster you can buy
now ;) It's correct to assume that I often work on tracks for very long
periods, changing things over and over again, yes. But with 'Code Ultimate
Control' it went to such extremes that I now really feel like doing something
more compact next.
'Controlling The Night
Skies' sounds very different from the other 2 albums. It's way more atmospheric
and cinematographic. Would you call this the new TET sound or was it just an
one-off thing?
CS/TET: When I started working on the new
tracks, I listened to a lot of Front Line Assembly's music from '86-'89, along
with some Clock DVA, and I noticed that a mixture of hard driving beats and
sequences with soundtrack-like atmospheres and reverb hadn't been done in ages.
I generally always like the clashing of seemingly contradictory elements. For
me, a powerful beat and a powerful atmosphere can create an even stronger
impact than one of those things alone. So I thought it would be a refreshing change.
And even after 4 years, I'm still not fed up with this type of sound. But as I
mentioned in the previous answer, future tracks will probably be a little less
megalomaniac productions. Some soundtrack elements will probably remain though.
'Controlling The Night
Skies' also has different lyrical themes. Many tracks are about drones and
high-tech surveillance, whereas the other 2 albums focus mainly on war and
combat. Can you tell us something more about the inspiration behind the lyrics?
CS/TET: Actually, you can find futuristic
warfare, combat and high-tech surveillance themes on all 3 albums. The change
lies more in the way it's dealt with. On the older albums, the approach was
more funny, based on C movie samples. On 'Controlling The Night Skies', everything
had to be a bit more serious, or it wouldn't have mixed well with the more orchestral
sounds that always evoke a certain gravity.
I certainly don't want to make it look like we
invented it - like many things we do, it's inspired by the classic bands and
releases and shares the same sources of inspiration. "Sampling the news - watching killvision", as Front 242
put it in 1987.
Those "sinister outlook" topics were
predominant during the climax of EBM in the late 80s/early 90s, and since
everything that was predicted in those came true, the themes are still valid in
my opinion.
What are your personal
favourite tracks from each disc of 'Code Ultimate Control'? You're allowed to
pick only 2 titles per album!
CS/TET: We really tried hard to do that, but
the best we can give you is our top 8 across all discs. For me, that's 'The
Flying Fortress', 'Fighter Zone 2033', 'Kampfmaschinen', 'Panzerdancer', 'Theme
Of Aggression', 'Red Spot [Direct Hit 3000]' 'Synthesizing The Antibody (A New
Bodydawn)', 'I Scan You [Patched 3.000]'.
RI/TET: 'The Flying Fortress', 'Mind
Quantizer', 'Provocation', 'Kampfmaschinen', 'Snipers [Newly Targeted 3000]', 'SFX
Retaliator (What A Man)', 'Synthesizing The Antibody (A New Bodydawn)', 'Deploy
The Machines'.
CS/TET: Too many tracks just seem exactly
equal in effectiveness to us. If you absolutely want less, please throw a dice
;)
There's a long list of
"sound generators" in the sleeve notes of 'Code Ultimate Control'.
I'm a layman when it comes to electronic gear, but can you tell us what all
this stuff is? The only thing I'm sure of is that you have a lot of synths.
CS/TET: It's a mixture of hardware
(synthesizers with and without keyboards) and software (synth apps, plug-ins).
I didn't want to separate those 2, since they're all sound generators and have
their own strengths. It's fantastic, by the way, how much choice you have
today. The dreams from the late 80s - to be able to use lots and lots of
machinery in the future - really came true. On the other hand, it takes a lot
of time to create your own sounds on each of those sound generators. 'Code
Ultimate Control' consists of hundreds of self-programmed sounds, so that fact
alone accounts for the rather extended time it took to finish it. Some machines
and programs are quite complex, but it pays off - it's the only way you can go
beyond the standard sounds everybody uses.
One of the reasons why
I like 'Code Ultimate Control' so much is because of all the different vocal
effects and variations in your singing style. Is that also something you pay
close attention to? Most old-school electro/EBM bands I know tend to stick to
the same kind of vocals/effects.
CS/TET: One obvious reason is of course
that 'Code Ultimate Control' contains improved versions of the previous 2 albums,
and those even contain tracks from the tape scene days. They contain mostly
hard distortion vocals, which is what TET started off with in 1993. However,
some people were always demanding less distortion and more "singing"
from TET. And since this fits very well with the more atmospheric style of the
new album 'Controlling The Night Skies', it was the perfect occasion to
experiment with more diverse vocal effects. Any type of experimentation is what
puts the fun into music for me.
The drawback is that it's very difficult to
reproduce it live. It would be possible with additional effort (tech/manpower)
- but most people are paying less attention to it than you thankfully do, so we
usually just simplify it on stage.
You're heavily opposed
against the so-called "loudness war", which has been plaguing contemporary
music recordings. 'Code Ultimate Control' is a "dynamic range recording".
What exactly does that mean?
CS/TET: For about 20 years now, record
companies have been forcing mastering engineers to make new releases louder and
louder, mainly in order to have the most impact on the radio. It's called a war
because the next release always has to be even louder than the one before, in order
to beat others in the competition. At first, louder music sounds more powerful
to the human ear. But unless you do pure industrial noise music, it's in fact
destroying the sound, killing the fine elements and especially the dynamics,
the range between the silent and loud parts and elements. Just get an album
from the 80s and one released today. On the first one you might have to turn up
the volume, but you will notice that the music sounds much "deeper",
making it a pleasure to listen to it for a longer time. On the other hand, the
"wow, that's powerful!" effect of the new album wears off within a
few minutes. Everything is equally loud, there are no changes, so the music
sounds dull over time.
In the worst case, it even borders on
(unwanted) distortion, so if this war goes on forever, everything will be industrial...
Fortunately, there are now signs that the end of the war is within sight in the
mainstream. But I'm not sure awareness will also make its way into the
underground scene soon, so I just keep fighting!
TET has performed in
Belgium twice: at a small EBM festival in Geel in 2005 and as special guest at
the 25th anniversary show of Front 242 in the Ancienne Belgique in Brussels a year
later. How do you look back at these gigs? Any memories or anecdotes you'd like
to share?
CS/TET: Of course and without any doubt,
being invited by the inventors of the term "EBM" to join their
anniversary as only other EBM band, can only be the best show you've ever had.
The venue was great, everything was perfectly organised - something you don't
always encounter when you're a band ranking a few categories lower than Front
242. And finally, the audience was plenty and open-minded towards a new band.
So it couldn't get any better.
As for anecdotes: I'm not sure if this is
unique worldwide, but I'm sure there are not many venues where you take an
elevator directly to the stage. To find that elevator, you had to follow
certain coloured lines on the floor through a labyrinth of corridors. Pick the wrong
colour and you might end up on the wrong stage! Very thrilling.
I also have good memories of the small festival
in Geel, which was organised by very friendly people, who sadly don't seem to
do any events anymore. The stage was unlike anything we had ever seen before -
it was not completely square, but with triangles facing the audience. We had never
seen anything like that before. And Insekt did a fantastic show on it.
We really like Belgium for those strange
surprises. By the way, my theory is that this inherent Belgian strangeness also
lead to such a small country developing such an unique music scene...
What's your stance on
contemporary "old-school" EBM? You don't seem very fond of the Anhalt
EBM movement.
CS/TET: Well, I just think it contains only
a small fraction of EBM history and ignores all the rest. I'm still trying to
figure out why lots of musicians all take the same 2-3 albums as blueprint for
their EBM, while there used to be so much variety in the late 80s. Why pretend EBM
ended in 1986, while it actually reached its climax later? I personally entered
EBM at the time of 'Front By Front' and 'Gashed Senses & Crossfire'. At
that time, all the classic acts (including Nitzer Ebb) had upgraded EBM from
1-sequence tracks like 'That Total Age'. And by the way, Front 242 - hailed as "the EBM godfathers" -
never even released one single track in that style.
What is glorified now as minimalism, was in
fact simply due to technical (sequencer) limitations in the very early days.
After that, every electronic musician was eager to reach new levels of
production with new synths and better sequencers. Nobody was looking back and
going retro in the 80s. Things were dynamic and forward-looking. What's more:
every band was striving to do their own variation of EBM; nobody just copied another
band. And the labels and audience were not only accepting, but also praising
their experiments - quite the opposite of today, I think.
Of course, there's no denying EBM is a retro
style as a whole today. But if you still feel close to that golden era, why not
look at the complete, fascinating range that EBM used to have? From combat
style to rock 'n roll influences, from ice-cold atmospheres to cowboy hats,
from cyborg biomechanics to horror themes - you name it.
In other words, what do these classics have in
common: 'Headhunter', 'Assimilate', 'Gun', 'Moving Hands', 'Rigor Mortis', 'Poison',
'Tension', 'Memory Flow' and even 'Control I'm Here'? - Answer: by today's
definition, none of these tracks is old-school EBM.
Let me stress this is not about "better"
or "worse" music for me; just about variety in style and how to keep
things interesting. And having once sold thousands of abstract techno vinyl
with another project, I definitely have nothing against minimalism on
principle. If you know how to do it, great, but less is not automatically more for
me. In my eyes, minimalism should be defended against becoming a pretext for
wanting to get music finished quickly and easily.
Well, that's just my 2 or 3 cents on the whole
issue. Thanks to anyone reading this far ;)
Final question: is
there a chance we will ever see TET without sunglasses? ;)
CS/TET: No, sorry. It's simply too
dangerous for us, especially after answering the previous question. We need to
continue operating in absolute darkness, off the main grid, like we've been
doing for 23 years... ;)
Final word: thanks for your interest in TET and
the in-depth questions! It was a pleasure.
Interview: Marjolein Laenen
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