Simi Nah: Cet album est une façon pour moi de “Tirer ma révérence”, de finir en beauté si tu préfères.

Finir en beauté, c’est ce que Simi Nah espérait avec son nouveau CD "La terre est noire". Et comment ! Le disque est un vrai chef-d’oeuvre. Un joyau sombre, cependant, avec de nombreuses références à la dépression, l'insomnie, la douleur, la mort et le suicide.

Bonjour Simi Nah. Je tiens à te féliciter pour ‘La terre est noire’, ton nouveau CD. Il est superbe. J’oserais même dire que c’est ce que tu as fait de mieux. Comment évalues-tu le disque toi-même ?

Bonjour Xavier.
 Je te remercie du compliment. J'avoue que, moi même, j’ai un peu ce sentiment. J'ai muri, j'ai grandi, j'ai pris beaucoup de plaisir sur scène ces dernières années, j'ai souffert aussi… Alors oui, cet album réuni l'ensemble de ces sentiments très forts, ce qui fait de lui sans doute le plus profond.

Le disque est très sombre, avec beaucoup de références à la mort et même au suicide. J’ai l’impression que le disque est très personnel. Qu’est-ce qui t’as amené à écrire un album aussi “noire” ?

Comme je te le dis plus haut, peut être ce fameux mélange de plaisir et de souffrance interne. Je réalise que suis une personne assez compliquée, malgré les apparences ! Pas facile à cerner, et j'ai constamment besoin de changement. La monotonie me déprime et la routine me rend folle... j'ai passé une période très complexe dans ma tête où je me levais parfois le matin en n'ayant que des idées “noires” en tête... comme la mort ! L'écriture de cet album m'a permis de ne pas sombrer et m'a aidé à surmonter mes peurs.

C’est sombre, mais tu ne perds pas la touche ‘pop’ que tu as eue toute ta carrière. C’est un point que tu as en commun avec Milène Farmer, avec qui tu as déjà souvent été comparée. Qu’en penses-tu ?

La fameuse comparaison avec Mylène Farmer, en soit, ne me dérange pas du tout. Elle a fait de très belles choses, et ce comparatif ne peut être que positif. Maintenant, il n'y a aucune volonté de ma part de vouloir lui ressembler; j'écris des mots les uns après les autres en utilisant ma langue natale, je joue avec les mots comme les mots jouent avec moi, et j'aime les voix sombres et douces… Donc oui, inévitablement il y a des points communs !

Après avoir entendu le CD, j’étais surpris d’entendre que c’était le dernier, et surtout que tu n’allais même pas faire de concerts pour le promouvoir. Pourquoi cette décision ?

C'est compliqué … Cet album est une façon pour moi de “Tirer ma révérence”, de finir en beauté si tu préfères. La vie est éphémère, tout est “F.M.R”, et parfois il est préférable d'arrêter plutôt que de dégénérer. Nous avons décidé, avec Kenny, mon partner in crime, de changer de vie radicalement, et à l'heure même où je t'écris, nous vivons dans un tout petit village en France où seuls les oiseaux performent des symphonies pour nous !

Tu as publié trois singles avant le disque, dont le premier en juin 2017. Je présume que la route a été longue pour publier ce disque. Combien de temps y avez-vous travaillé et pourquoi cela a duré si longtemps?

Parce que mon mal-être interne m'a aidé à écrire ces textes, mais m'a aussi freiné tant je ne savais plus où aller, ni dans ma tète, ni dans la musique... Le temps a produit de différentes atmosphères que l'on retrouve tout au long de l'album. Les plus sombres ont été écrites en dernier lieu.

Avec “La terre est noire”, tu retournes vers le français comme langue principale. J’apprécie beaucoup les jeux de mots et la façon dont tu joues avec la langue française. Pourquoi ce retour aux sources ?

Je n'ai jamais vraiment quitté cette façon d'être. “Be my guest”, qui n'était pas vraiment un album perso, faisait exception à la règle. Mais mes 2 albums précédents étaient presque tout en français. Pour “La Terre est Noire”, ce que j'avais à dire était trop théâtral pour utiliser la langue de Shakespeare, c'est donc choisi Molière pour m'inspirer !

Comme c’est la fin de ta carrière musicale, je me disais qu’il serait intéressant de parcourir ta carrière. Ton premier album – “Cherchez la femme” de 2004 – était basé sur les relations avec ta mère et ta fille, un sujet qui te préoccupes encore aujourd’hui. On remarque aussi que ton style musical est resté assez consistent durant ta carrière… Quel regard porte tu sur ton début ?

Un début reste un début, et comme tout commencement, on se cherche encore ! “Cherchez la Femme” était effectivement un thème profond sur ma recherche de personnalité entre ma mère et ma fille. Je suis entretemps passé à autre chose ….
La production musicale était encore très naïve et timide, bien que l'on abordait déjà le retour du gothic et de la new wave dans cet album, alors que le revival n'était pas d'actualité en 2004 !

Ton second album “5” se veut une réflexion sur le monde de la mode. Tu as essayé de devenir créatrice et tu avais même déménagée à Paris pour cela, où tu as passé une période assez difficile. L’album se veut plutôt critique vis-à-vis du monde de la mode, n’est-ce pas ?

Oui tout à fait ! Tu vois, c'est encore une facette de moi qui est un peu difficile à interpréter ! D'abord je voulais devenir styliste quand j'étais jeune, puis par manque de moyens (ma mère m'élevait seule et ne pouvais pas payer les seules écoles de stylisme qui existaient à l'époque), je n'ai jamais fait les études de mode dont je rêvais. J'ai alors tout quitté pour aller vivre à Paris en espérant apprendre sur le tas, mais le rêve a vite tourné au cauchemar ! Cela t'ouvre les yeux, et plus tard tu te dis que le talent ne s'achète pas, mais la popularité si !! L'industrie de la mode manipule la population en imposant ses choix, et le temps de Coco Chanel est bien loin, si loin qu'il a atteint les frontières de la Chine en production massive !

C’est aussi à Paris que tu as eu cette fameuse rencontre avec Gavin Friday des Virgin Prunes ? Que s’est-il passé ?

Hahaha oui !! Comment sais tu tout cela ? J'ai vu un de leur concert en plus ou moins 1986, si je me souviens bien, à l'Elysée Montmartre à Paris. Après le concert, par je ne sais quel miracle, je me suis retrouvée à l'arrière de la salle et j'ai pénétré dans les loges. Ne me demande pas comment, je n'en ai aucune idée !!
 Gavin Friday venait d'avoir une dispute ou discussion avec Guggi et il était en pleure. Je me suis approchée de lui pour le consoler comme j'ai pu, et après avoir sécher ses larmes il s'est remaquillé les yeux en noir. J'en ai profité pour faire de même en empruntant son crayon khôl et il m'a dit que je pouvais le garder en souvenir ! Figure toi que je l'ai toujours !!

Les deux premiers albums contiennent une réflexion sur le rôle de la femme dans la société. Que signifie le mouvement féministe pour toi aujourd’hui ?

Rien du tout ! Je ne suis pas féministe, pas plus que ça. Je n'aime pas mettre des mots sur des idées pareilles. Je suis plutôt pour le respect de tous, femme ou non, mais c'est un trop long débat je pense. 
Le rôle “des femmes” dans mes premiers album était d'ordre sentimental, plutôt qu'un rôle en particulier dans la société.
 Cela dit, j'ai plus d'affinité avec les animaux qu'avec les femmes ou les hommes !

“Be My Guest” est un album avec des reprises de classiques new wave classics with avec des ‘guests’ comme Dirk Ivens, Dirk Da Davo, Nikkie Van Lierop, Luc Van Acker… L’album a été un succès indéniable, mais il y a aussi eu des critiques qui disaient que le succès était facile avec cette formule…

Les mauvaises critiques restent des critiques, le négatif est aussi positif que le positif ! Tu me suis?
 Le succès de cet album, c'était à mes yeux la spontanéité du projet, rien n'a été prémédité, c'est arrivé tout seul. C'était un album fun à produire, mais aussi celui qui a demandé le plus de travail, tant coté production que coté organisation. Nous avons, Kenny et moi, tout fait nous-mêmes. Enregistrements, arrangements, mixes, pochette, promo, et pour ne rien laisser au hasard, nous avons monté notre label Why2k Music pour sortir cet album. Donc peu être formule “facile”, mais travail du dingue !

J’ai une thèse et je veux te demander ton avis : ‘la crise de l’industrie musicale fait que les considérations commerciales ont perdues beaucoup de leur importance et que la démarche artistique est redevenue primordiale. En fin de compte, ça bénéficie à la qualité des œuvres produites aujourd’hui’. Qu’en penses-tu ?

Je suis assez partagée sur ce sujet; à l'époque où j'ai commencé mon projet solo, nous pouvions vivre de la musique seule. Comme tu l'as mentionné plus haut, un album ça prend du temps, beaucoup de temps, il faut donc pouvoir s'y consacrer corps et âme pour obtenir de bons résultats.
 A l'heure actuelle, nombreux sont les artistes que je connais obligés d'avoir une seconde occupation pour “survivre”, et pour ma part cela ne m'a pas réussi. Car oui j'ai aussi dû faire “autre chose” pour intégrer cette société qui avait décidé à ma place que la musique ne faisait pas partie des normes. Cela m'a beaucoup affectée et je ne parvenais pas à changer de peau pour passer d'un monde dit “normal” à un monde “artistique”. D'où les longs écarts entre et durant les albums.
 Maintenant, c'est peut être cette frustration intense qui nous a amené à écrire notre meilleur album !

 
Que vas-tu faire maintenant ? Une résurrection de Coma, le premier groupe de toi et Kenny ?

Vivre sereinement, écouter le “Chant des loups” et des cerfs, et le reste suivra…

Merci pour cette interview !

Merci à toi aussi !

Photos: Luc Luyten (1), Xavier Marquis (2-5)

Simi Nah: bandcamp/ website/ facebook

Good news: Alien Sex Fiend is still "Possessed'

Dark Entries had a long chat with one of the more important batcave pioneers, Alien Sex Fiend (ASF), still going strong after a career of 36 years! Time to celebrate with a new album, both on cd and vinyl, and out in November. Dark Entries had the unique opportunity to prelisten to the new “Possessed” album by Alien Sex Fiend, and of course we had some questions! 

“Possessed” is the title of the new album by ASF... What does possess your minds lately and what kind of influences were important to give birth to the new album... the intro is rather ‘haunting’...

Nik Fiend : The intro is like an overture to the album, we used elements from different songs across the album to create it, to set an atmosphere... The start of the album actually goes back to 2012 when our old guitarist from the late 1980s to 90s, Doc Milton, had returned & the gigs with him went up several gears. They were electric! After a few years, I became very obssessed – or possessed! - with the idea of recording that band line up but we didn’t know whether that would be a couple of tracks or what. We went into the studio with some initial ideas & the recordings happened fast, the songs almost fell out of us. Doc was on fire, recording lots of guitar tracks which was unusual for him, but it is strange that he did record so much guitar because when he died in 2016, we had all that material to use on the album. After that, I had to be possessed in order to finish the album! We had to absorb the loss of Doc & we took a break while we compiled “Fiendology” (3 CD set, 35 years of ASF history), also  a number of other personal events interrupted work on the album, but always in my mind was the plan to finish “Possessed”. At times though it did feel like we were on “the road to Mordor” like in the Lord Of The Rings – it was a very long road!

Mrs Fiend : There were many obstacles along the way. So we are very happy that at last “Possessed” is going to be released on November 9th!

Do you agree with my point of view that during the decades ASF became harsher, harder and more experimental, “Possessed” sounds like a harsh, slightly experimental industrial batcave album, most bands growing older tend to write boring love songs... No for ASF... Sounds like you still got some ‘anger’ in you...

Nik Fiend : I think I thrive on angst!

Mrs Fiend : I don’t know what it is, but with a track like “Shit’s Coming Down” for example, I just love that full on beat! That appeals to me, or mental guitar, or mad spacey noises, not fucking love songs! It is interesting how some music that seemed to be “far out” or quite experimental years ago, doesn’t sound like that now, whereas other music has stood the test of time & still sounds weird! Basically we like weird, far out music!

Nik Fiend : I take it as a compliement that you think we are still experimental - after all these years, that’s an achievement! I always wanted to be in a weird, underground band! ASF can be anything it wants to be, since Day One it has been that way, we have always made different sounding songs,

Mrs Fiend : Every album is different.

Nik Fiend : A period of time gets locked into a record. You would not be able to re-create that particular time & that particular feeluing & sound, they are encapsulated in that recording. We’re not always aggressive musically, I think its probably 50/50. We don’t write 8 rockers & 2 power ballads per album!! We have never done that...We always do what we believe in, we’ve never been told what to record, or how to record, & if I was ever told I wouldn’t listen! (Laughs) We’ve always done things our way, our music is like alchemy ...

To me, listening to possessed was like a psychedelic trip through my inner mind, my darkest corners, my nightmares... was it the same for you? Or was the album created with that kind of purpose? A song like “Amnesia” is like a dark psychedelic trip...

Mrs Fiend : I wouldn’t advise listening to “Amnesia” on acid though! I think it would seriously mess up your mind!! (laughs) It’s scary enough when you’re straight!

Nik Fiend : Yes, its deranged! (laughs) Yes, I agree with you that this album is like a psychedelic trip, it’s great that those ideas have reached you from the music, I feel it is like progressive music but modern, 21st century. The album has created itself to be like that, there was no premeditated plan, or template, it has all come straight from our collective hearts, heads & souls, as it says in the lyrics to “It’s In My Blood”. We’re all in the shit together, I am going down the dark tunnel myself along with everyone else. It is like soul mining. Mining of my soul, it is deep, it goes deep, we have had a very challenging, difficult few years, I know that everyone has those periods of difficulties, it is life, I put all that into my lyrics & the music & the artwork that goes with the album.

You have been active in music business for over 35 years now. How do you look back upon the first ASF releases and this “Possessed”? Is there another approach in the making of the music, the writing of the lyrics etc ?

Mrs Fiend : We’re now in year 36 –eek! It is all “Alien Sex Fiend” music to us & we’re proud of everything we’ve recorded, as Nik said before, each recording captures a time & place & mood (feeling). No there isn’t any difference in how we create songs now, it’s always been the same way - somebody comes up with some element musically – it could be a beat, a guitar riff, a keyboard sound, a weird noise & then we build on that starting point.

Nik Fiend : That initial idea will usually spark up an idea for lyrics. But sometimes I like the sound of a track & I feel that it doesn’t need me to sing over the top. It is all down to how I feel at the time, I like having sections of music that I can just listen to without singing, I enjoy hearing the inter- play of the band & the different instruments weaving in & out & around each other .

ASF seems like a typical non commercial band, songs over 11 minutes, atypical structures and noises, atypical melodies,... Is this a conscious decision, or would ypu also aim for commercial success if commercial music wasn’t that boring? 

Mrs Fiend : In the UK, with a name like “Alien Sex Fiend” there was no way we were ever going to be on “Top Of The Pops” or Radio 1 (mainstream TV & radio) & it’s the same way now! It was a conscious decsision, we were well aware that the name was anti-commercial, so there was no point in a record company trying to manipulate the music or trying to buy us into the mainstream charts.

Nik Fiend : If we have done something “commercial” then it was accidental! (laughs) As we said before, the main aim of the band was to be a weird, underground band, we just wanted to be “Alien Sex Fiend” & do what we wanted to do because we believe in it.

To me “Carcass” is like thé new hit on the new album, referring in a way to that typical pretty insane sound of ASF as thé mark of ASF through the years. Do You agree? Possibly a 7” or 12” version in the pipeline?

Nik Fiend : It’s great that you like “Carcass” so much. Actually there are 3 different mixes of “Carcass” at the moment – the one on the CD, then a slightly shorter version “Carrion Mix” & the “Vortex Mix” both on the Double Vinyl, that last one is a more “rock” version, so there would be enough mixes for a single.

Mrs Fiend : A lot of people seem to like “Shit’s Coming Down” & “It’s In My Blood” too. There will be a digital single at some point we think, but maybe we’ll wait & see what tracks people like & then see what other mixes we might have lurking about.... 

     

        

How does the line up like today? And who was responsible for the realization of the new album “Possessed”?                                      

Nik Fiend : Me! (laughs)

Mrs Fiend : And me! (laughs) We’ve written on the album credits “Written, played, engineered & produced by Alien Sex Fiend” & that “Alien Sex Fiend are Nik Fiend, Mrs Fiend, Mat Pod & Doc Milton (RIP)” – so whatever you hear on the album, one of us four is responsible for it! Nik did the vocals, of course, & I did some backing vocals, Doc Milton played most of the guitar, but Mat Pod did the main riff guitar on “Ghost In The Machine” & the blasting guitar at the end of “It’s In My Blood” which is amazing. I did all the keyboard stuff, bass lines, & weird noises – as usual! Plus most of the drums. Mat added some extra electronic bits – weird effects on some things & some extra drums, particularly on “Amnesia” & some of the “Invisible” drums... We basically all worked on everything, all aspects, obviously with the loss of Doc it was the 3 of us who had to carry on to complete the album.

                                                                                                          

Do you agree, humor is also a main ingredient in the music of ASF... ?

Nik Fiend : It is a main ingredient in life! I don’t think you can get through life without humour, life would be very grim without it!

Mrs Fiend : Yes it is an ingredient in our music, but only one ingredient of many.

Nik Fiend : Otherwise we’d have become stand up comedians instead! (laughs)

A song that intrigues me a lot is “Ghost In The Machine” does it refer to the the work of philosopher Gilbert Rye, and his philosophy of the mind?

Nik Fiend : No, not especially, I’ve never done a philosophy course! I’d like to leave “Ghost In The Machine” open to interpretation. It was the first song we recorded, it came out of a jam while we were checking out the studio because we hadn’t been there before. One of my favourite parts of that song is the backwards guitar in the middle...

Mrs Fiend : To me , it feels like you are going down the rabbit hole Alice In Wonderland!

Nik Fiend : It was amazing how the different sonic elements fitted together, it’s a bizarre song, but really intriguing, you don’t know where it’s heading, I like that.

How would you promote the new album in your own words?

Nik Fiend : It’s music to comfort the disturbed & disturb the comfortable!

 The artwork (painting) is rather minimalistic, but closes in on the album very well, by far the most expressing and haunting ASF cover?

Nik Fiend : Thank you! I had various ideas for the cover, I always do have different ideas in mind, but that painting jumped out at me. 

Mrs Fiend : You should see it on the Double Vinyl cover, you can even see the texture of the canvas Nik painted it on & the brish strokes! It looks amazing, like it IS a painting.

What are the future plans for miss and mister Fiend? And for the band ASF? Are there any dates scheduled already to perform live?

Mrs Fiend : The next part of “the plan” is to play some live shows, but of course we will need to find a new guitarist, so it might take a little while.

Nik Fiend : We improvise a lot  at live gigs, & we’re unorthodox, so it isn’t a simple matter of somebody learning the chords & rehearsing the songs, you have to be immersed in it completely, but we think we have a solution, so stay tuned! Fingers crossed!

What do you prefer (and why) people still playing “Ignore The Machine” on a party or a song from the new album? 

  

Mrs Fiend : I dont mind – the fact that somebody wants to play any ASF song is the most important thing!

Nik Fiend : “Ignore the Machine” is as relevant as “It’s In My Blood (from “Possessed”) to me, both are songs that we wanted to record & release, nobody forced us to do it. I am as proud of our past songs as I am of the new ones. 

Thank you for your time, & I’m glad that you seem to have had an interesting trip with “Possessed”!!

The pleasure was and is ours!

Explore the universe of ALIEN SEX FIEND

(interview by darkestdweller / K.I.)         

COPH NIA

-First of all: what a surprise you’re going to play the Dwaalspoor festival! I thought you would never perform anymore, and that the (excellent!) gig at the Cold Meat Festival last year was a one-off.

How did Dwaalspoor managed to convince you to make an exception?

That's what I thought to. I had given up on playing live again but doing the CMI fest was a no brainer. It proved to be so much fun, and so appreciated that I was high for a week. Both from the performance and meeting the whole "family" again. It had been almost 10 years since we did this but this night was magical for so many reasons. 

Ia of Arcana later set me up for a blind date with Brigitte about the Dwaalspoor gig. I was sceptical, but after some flirting she had reeled us in.

-Another question that came in mind is: how do you get to the Netherlands? I’ve heard the rumour that you are very affraid to fly but I thought that myth was maybe a little exorbitant. But Brigitte told me it’s a fact.

It's a fact, and it's more than just a fear. It's utter and sheer panic involved. Which is not a state I very much care to be in. Train is the only option for me and this is the problem with live shows for us. It's expensive as hell, and very tedious for long travels.

-Last year there was the Cold Meat Festival which celebrated the 30th birthday of this legendary Swedish label, although it ceased it’s activities in 2014. Besides Coph Nia, with acts like Brighter Death Now, MZ.412, In Slaughter Natives and Arcana (to name a few), still a label that speaks to everyone’s imagination. How do you look back on the heyday of this label?

These days, only with joy and thankfulness. There were dark times of course, with royalties gone down the drain. And then the whole meltdown. But at the end of the day that does not matter. CMI was much more than a mere label. It defied a whole genre and I am truly grateful to have been part of it.

-Recently, German label Raubbau brought out the digital versions of your albums, did you feel the need to take a step in the digital world, or was it on people’s demand?

There was no need. I just wanted my back catalogue to be out there. Let's face it, Spotify is the way most people listen to music nowadays. It beats listening on YouTube which is what you had to revert to earlier to stream my music.

-In the meantime, Ukrainian label Old Captain reissued also an expanded version of The Tree Of Life And Death, which housed 25 ritual tracks that were very different to your studio material, but also unmistakably sound like Coph Nia. All of this, plus the fact you will perform in the Netherlands later this year, looks like 2018 will be the year of Coph Nia?

The year of Coph Nia has passed. I figure we can do one show per year, and I just made the slot for WGT next year so we're fully booked:) WGT has been trying to book us for 4 years now I think. We played the festival 3 times back in the days and it's gonna be lots of fun doing it one more time around.

-(further on the past question) Maybe it’s a sort of justice, because in my opinion, your latest album Lashtal Lace (2015) didn’t get the attention it deserved.

I accidentally found it at a Raubbau stand, at a concert (Ordo Rosarius Equilibrio), and didn’t know you’ve released a new album!

It also turned out to be a very different album in comparison with your older work. In my review I called it Coph Nia’s most personal album, on which it seemed you found the love in your life.

How do you look back on this album, and how did people generally react on this quite different album?

This is a bit troublesome since it is where Coph Nia actually died midway through. The album took 3-4 years to finish. Kudos to Raubbau for not giving up! Lashtal Lace passed without much attention mainly because Coph Nia wasn't active. We didn't play live and I was not promoting it in any way.

-Also on Lashtal Lace, the title song is a beautiful duet with the late great Aleah (Julia Liane Stanbridge) who passed away a year after.

That song reminds me of a darker version of the Lee Hazlewood songs he did with singers like Nancy Sinatra, was this also what you had in mind, when you recorded this song?

I'm a huge Hazlewood fan, but Aleahs vocals came into fruition after the song was basically finished. But I love your reference! Let's say it is so and not tell anybody otherwise shall we? Sweet, sweet Aleah made this the most beautiful song I have ever made. 

-I hear a lot of similarities between your voice and the deep voice of Milan Fras of Laibach. Laibach. Laibach did a lot of covers in their career, and Coph Nia also has with reworks of varied acts like Black Sabbath, Alice Cooper, Arthur Brown, The Rolling Stones, Front 242 and Buzzcocks’ singer Pete Shelley a nice catalogue of covers so far.

What’s the story behind these covers, is it because they fit on the album, or are those just songs you want to give the Coph Nia treatment just because it seems fun to do?

Yeah what is it with me and covers? I just love doing them. Most of them are songs that had struck a chord with me and I wanted to take that chord to a super chord. The only exception is Ozzys "Mr Crowley" which is a terribly cheesy song. But I had to do it sooner or later. Once they are done I don't even think of them as covers... they are now my songs and mine only.

-Back to Dwaalspoor: I think there will be a lot of people who will see Coph Nia live for the first time. What can they expect: who will join you on stage, and will the song material be a mix of old and new one, or do you have some other plans for your show?

We do a standard repertoire. It's been so long that it will feel totally fresh. It's me and Linus as it always has been. For the CMI30 last year we did one rehearsal thinking that we had lost track after 8 years, but all songs are in our muscle memory. We do what we do best and we put on a good show, that's a fact. To many in this genre make dreary boring live appearances. 

-Coph Nia’s work is highly influenced by Crowley magic and symbolism. Is this something that also defines your daily life? And if so, can you tell us something about how you experience this craft anno 2018?

It's always with me, but daily life is mainly work followed by rest. Sad to say so. Thelema, and the western magical tradition has always been a part of me since the mid 80s, but on a philosophical level. 

-Are you working on new material, and if so, can you already reveal something about it?

Maybe I will get to making new music again, but it's problematic. I seem to have lost the creative spark. If it happens it will be a new direction completely. The logical step after Lashatal Lace would be a full on rock n roll album if you analyse how my music has evolved. I would have to break that and go for a more minimal gritty electronic sound.

Coph Nia

DØDSMASKIN

Your gig at Dwaalspoor will be the first one outside of Norway. I can imagine it’s a great honour they asked you? Will it be the kick off for further world domination, by which I mean if you already got other offers to play abroad?

It definitely is a great honour! Coincidentally, we were on our flight back from Germany, impressed by the Berlin Atonal festival we had just attended and discussing possible live shows, when the request regarding Dwaalspoor ticked in. Dwaalspoor will be a next step for us geographically as well as our very first performance with vocals and percussion.

Not only for me, but for most of the Dwaalspoor will the concert be the first acquaintance with your music. How would you describe Dødsmaskin to someone that has never heard of you? Could you tell us something abouth the project’s history/members?

In terms of categorization, we have usually referred to Dødsmaskin as a noise-oriented drone project. Reviewers, labels and listeners tend to label the music as death industrial, however, and they are probably right. Whatever you want to call it: Dødsmaskin is bleak, noisy, heavy and brutal, but there is also structure, ambience, pace and dynamism that add a certain discipline to the turmoil. Industrial in general has long been a key part of both of our musical backgrounds, and you could say that Dødsmaskin is a distillation of the more sound design-related aspects of that aesthetical world.

What can we expect of Dødsmaskin live?

We will build on material from all three albums and extend it into an «outer shell» of sonic texture, so to speak, and make it a really physical experience.

In the 90s Norway was the place to be for satanic black metal, with protagonists as Burzum, Mayhem and Darkthrone and we all know the stories of burning churches. A lot of acts in the noise/industrial genre have a background in the general extreme music scene (p.e MZ412, Kreuzweg Ost), does this also goes up for Dødsmaskin??

Yes, we have previously been involved in different black/death metal and industrial metal acts, and we enjoy listening to both old and new sounds representing those genres.

In a quite short time, Dodsmaskin already released 3 albums, for well known labels such as Cyclic Law and Malignant Records. That’s quite impressive!

Not only the short time in which you released those albums, but also that those labels decided to pick up your music, must be very encouraging for a new band?

Oh, yes! We have been very fortunate, but we also work tirelessly to make Dødsmaskin as good as we possibly can. No compromises – ever.

You play the Dwaalspoor gig together with Coph Nia. In my opinion an absolute highlight from Scandinavia. Are you familiar with his music, and in general with the Cold Meat Industry acts that made Sweden in the 90’s dark ambient country n°1?

In a sense, Coph Nia and several other names associated with Cold Meat Industry in the 90s collectively served as a gateway to the world of «unconventional» dark music for us. It is therefore pretty surreal to have collaborated with Nordvargr on the Malignant Records compilation track «Djevelhorer», and now to share the stage with another CMI legend.

A lot of acts in the noise, industrial and dark ambient genre have a strongly profiled philosophy behind their project. Judging by your name I would say your main theme is ‘death’ in general, or do I have to see the Dødsmaskin philosophy larger than that?

To answer this question, it is tempting to cite the preamble on our debut Ingenting as it more or less sums up the nihilist crux of our work:

«When contemplating a human face through the eyes of an x-ray machine, the void it projects back can be unsettling. This cranial frame, stripped of life; a reminder of the finite frontiers that constrain our transitory institutions, and the nothingness that precedes and succeeds them. However, while we occupy this bodily state, nothingness is detached neither from comprehension nor experience. Rather, it is interacting; mirrored in the human inclination to manifest its imprint time and time again through a continuous spiral of intellectual and material destruction. And its catalyst is also a testament to its paradox: the human impulse to escape it by any means necessary.»

In my opinion, in the genre you operate, live visuals add a lot of value at concerts. Do you use them, and talking about movies: which titles would suit your sounds well?

We certainly have ideas about live visuals (and visuals in general) and intend to realize them at some point, but for now we are focusing on developing the audible part of our rig.

Suitable movies… Good question. Depends a little on the album, but on the whole:

·         Cube

·         Irréversible

·         Event Horizon

·         The Machinist

·         SE7EN

·         Terminator 1 & 2

·         Lost Highway

·         American Psycho

Finally: I will dj at the Dwaalspoor afterparty, do you have a request?

Speaking of Norwegian acts, what about «Neon Sun» off Radiowaves by Seigmen and «Existence» off Thorns by Thorns?

Thanks, Dimi!

Dødsmaskin