THE KLINIK (B)

The Klinik will be back on on our stage in 'Hof ter Lo' on the 20^th of December. Five years after the first legendary reunion of Ivens - Verheaghen.

The Klinik split in 1990 because of various differences in musical interests’ and both members went their own way with their own projects. When 13 years after this, both Mark with Klinik and Dirk with Dive were performing in the WGT at the same day in the same venue, it appeared that after a good conversation there was enough enthusiasm to start performing on stage together again. That is were we decided to rework a complete set to get on stage the end of that year at the BIM 2003.

In one word 'Fantastic'. We still get a very warm feeling reflecting about that moment. Hearing back those tracks through the loudspeakers after so many years, it really felt right because without realizing, we noticed that in those times we did write a lot of tracks, that until today, often get on the play list of different parties.

The Klinik was especially popular in Germany en therefore it was obvious that we got some requests to perform again. We did not really want to go on tour, so that is why we preferred to go for festivals like WGT, Mera Luna en Amphi. It was actually because of the Bim Fest that we were eager to play again, but on the other hand we did not want to force things, because both of us had our own lives and side projects.

During the last performance at Amphi we already played some new stuff and the reactions were very positive. In the meantime we are continuing working on new stuff but we do realize that expectations are high. On the one hand this is quiet frightening but on the other hand this gives us the drive to put the goals high and try to get the best out of it.

Musical wise we are almost done, at this moment we are working on the lyrics, we do not have a title yet, and the pieces of the puzzle still have to fall together. About the sound of the new album we can say that we are loyal to the old sound because we are still playing the same instruments. The Klinik clearly has its own sound en hopefully we will be releasing the new album in spring, under a still to be defined label.

The same, Marc looks after the music which is then put together by both of us in song context en after that Dirk adds the lyrics and the voice.

Our set in December will be very different compared to the last Bim gig, we will definitely play more new material, and at the same time we will also be playing existing, older material.

We realize this very well, which is why we will definitely take all the time we need to come forward with a new strong album. At the future Bim fest you will already be able to get an idea, because the new tracks will definitely not be overruled by the old tracks, they fit perfectly in the set and we are really looking forward to it!

We have a lot of favorites but if we have to choose it would be: Mark: 'Someone, Somewhere' Dirk: 'Walking with Shadows', just for the atmosphere and the underlying tension of these songs.

An under appreciated song is hard to come up with, but what we can say is that ALL songs have been recorded in 1 take with analog instruments on a 2 or 4 track recorder without the option to change them afterwards. Explain this to the computer musicians of today!

The line-up is brilliant, we are not going to state names but we both do have our favorites that we rather keep to ourselves. No, we are really looking forward to this. For a next edition Clock DVA and Suicide would be nice!

Well, because there should be an eight Edition and that the Bimfest together with the Gothic Festival are the two best Belgian festivals in their kind!

Thanks for this interview!

Kurt Ingels

THE NAMES

The Names are a legendary Belgian new wave/postpunk band (formed in Brussels in 1978 around bass player and songwriter Michel Sordinia), that made it on Joy Divisions label Factory Records! After one album and a handful of singles, the band split up in 1983. But now they are back and they present their new album at our BIMfest! We spoke with Michel Sordinia.

Can you introduce The Names to the younger generation that isn’t always familiar with the band?

Michel Sordinia: We started the band in the late seventies, first as The Passengers and then (from 1979 on) as The Names. After our first self-produced E.P. “Spectators Of Life”, we signed on the then already famous Manchester label Factory. We went there up North and started a long time collaboration with the great (producer) Martin Hannett. Our first Factory single, “Nightshift”, followed quickly, then there was the album “Swimming” and two more singles: “Calcutta” and “The Astronaut”. We stopped in 1983 and briefly reunited in 1997 under the name Jazz, recording the album “Night Vision”. The real reunion was to happen at the Factory Night in december 2007. A live dvd (“Nightshift”) celebrates the event. We just finished recording our new studio album, “Monsters Next Door”.

If people ask you what style of music you play, what do you answer? New wave? Cold wave? Postpunk?

MS: Postpunk it was, and still is, probably. New wave is a term we can also cope with. Cold wave? No. We never were that cold. There was always heat and passion in our music.

Why did you chose the rather non-committal and colourless name of The Names for the band?

MS: Good and rarely asked question. We actually did love calling ourselves The Passengers, but we discovered in a British rock magazine that an English band had the same name. Already aiming at working with a UK label (either Factory of Fiction, our favorites at the time), we felt we had to change our name. A close friend, Pierre Tkac, seeing the list of names we did hesitated about, told us one night: ‘Why don’t you simply call yourselves The Names?’ It did it for us. The irony being that no one never heard of the British The Passengers again… And yes, The Names is rather colourless, it doesn’t stand out as ‘Joy Division’, ‘The Velvet Underground’ or ‘Pearl Jam’. We didn’t think it matters. Except it does…

When you began making music, what were your musical sources of inspiration?

MS: Personnaly I started at 14, playing bass and singing with a school band called Epsilon. Straight rock music with some bluesy Jimi Hendrix influences. Did a few successfull gigs and won several ‘young talents’ contests. Then I met Marc and we realized we both did love Neil Young and The Velvet Underground. That was the start, for us as friends and musicians bound to form a new band, with another friend, Robert Franckson. Christophe joined us as… drummer later on.

How was it to work with the legendary producer Martin Hannett, who worked with Joy Division and lots of other new wave bands? They say he had a very weird personality... Was he the Phil Spector of the postpunk?

MS: Martin was both our producer and our friend. We developped a relationship with him that would last even after his break-up with Factory. He certainly sometimes moved in mysterious ways, but so did we, too. The unconscious was at work when we shared a studio floor. Still, the amazing amount of new ideas and experiments he came up with almost every day or night was matched by his impressive capacity for making them technically viable. He talked often about building us a ‘wall of sound’, and he loved the work of Phil Spector. I wrote a song for the new album about working with Martin. It’s called “Zeroes”. Zero was Martin’s Nickname, even if we never used it ourselves…

Did you ever meet/talk to Ian Curtis?

MS: We met him but never had a chance to have a real conversation, unfortunately.

Can you tell us something more about the following Names songs (some of the best and most wellknown) and what are their lyrics about?
- “Calcutta”
- “Nightshift”
- “I Wish I Could Speak Your Language”

MS: “Calcutta” talks, indirectly (with a little of Marguerite Duras influence), about a dual world, North – South, all that sort of things... “Nightshift” is a dreamlike evocation of nightshift working, filled with personal poetic visions of mine. “I Wish I Could Speak Your Language” is a love song. A sad, longing one. Talking about love is talking about communication. Language is a metaphor here, as you probably guessed…

Some weeks ago in Brussels, I saw you performing the Names song “I Wish I Could Speak Your Language” with the legendary American postpunk band For Against. How did this happen? Whose idea was this?

MS: For Against are friends of mine. We met via the internet when I created the Names page on Myspace. I really like their music, the way they put their heart and soul in it, specially on stage. When Jeff told me that they were playing “I Wish I Could Speak Your Language” on stage during their European tour, and asked me if I would like to sing it on stage with them, I didn’t hesitate for a second. It was an intense, beautiful moment to live and share with them and the audience.

Of course we are very curious about the new album. Can you tell us something more about it? What can we expect?

MS: The new album will be called “Monsters Next Door”. It’s a collection of twelve songs going from the violent and noisy “Flesh Wounds” (the video is already on our Myspace Page and Youtube) to an almost entirely acoustic song featuring a string trio. It will be faithful to previous Names experiences, but also and foremost free to explore other dimensions in sound. Christophe contributes with three compositions of his own. The songs are excitingly good (we will play eight of them at the BIMfest), and the lyrics are the best we ever wrote.

What are your plans for the near future?

MS: First the release of the new album, and the shooting of two more videos. After the BIMfest, we will put the accent on concerts, both in Belgium and abroad (France, Italy, USA, a.o.). We will have a live television concert on ARTE channel. And another album is already planned.

What can we expect from the concert at the BIMfest in Antwerp?

MS: We always enjoyed playing on stage. But the pleasure was never as strong as it is now, with the amazingly powerful Laurent and Eric backing us on drums and bass. We can promise you the wall of sound Martin talked about, thanks also to our sound wizard Thomas Neidhardt who will be at the mix table. I can also promise you that our heart will beat on stage, and beat hard. The Names take pride in being both strong (relentlessly so) in musical impact and sincere (thus vulnerable) in emotional impact. You can expect both. And more.

What’s your opinion about the BIMfest 2008 line up? Are there bands that you would like to see yourself?

MS: It’s a strong line up, indeed. We will try to see as many other bands as we can.

Why should our readers come and see the concert?

MS: It will be more to us than just another concert, with the new songs played on stage for the first time, in a great venue and an exciting festival. This will be a night to remember!

We are strongly looking forward to it!

Henk Vereecken

The Names: “Flesh Wounds” from the brand new album “Monsters Next Door”!

Can you please introduce Vomito Negro to the younger generation who might have not experienced the heyday days of the EBM?

Gin Devo: Then we have to go far back in time, Vomito Negro arose in 1983. In those days electronic instruments were still rather expensive, we had to work with older analogous copies from the late 1970s, the kind of instruments one nowadays has to pay a fortune for.

We had to learn how to control those instruments before we could actually play them, which is always a good starting point. We began without any musical background and therefore created music in a rather pure manner.

Soon it was clear that we would go for an industrial ride, nobody spoke of E.B.M. It was just called (industrial) electro.

In the early days Vomito Negro was; myself, Gin Devo (vocals, programming and synths), Hans Wyers (ideas, cover design), Peter Morals (bass guitar) Mario Varewijck (drums) Gina Van Mieghem (vocals) and Guy Van Mieghem (vocals and syths).

From the beginning Vomito Negro had a reputation for having rather violent looking and sounding live shows. We were alive & kicking! Today Vomito Negro might have a different line up, but it still has the same spirit and energy!

Borg: I have experienced the heydays of E.B.M. quite extensively, in those days as a real fan and rookie organizer, but I can certainly remember some legendary live actions of Vomito Negro. I even organized one of the first Vomito Negro concerts on a small festival somewhere in ‘86-‘87 with Insekt, Typisch Belgisch, E! Truncheon and it was held at the legendary New Wave café ‘The Phantom’ in Kalmthout (of all places). As a matter of fact, that even so legendary evening was called `Limited Entertainment’ and all 240 visitors (the café was packed!) then were also given the like named LP for free.

 
How would you describe your music to an outsider? Someone who has never before heard of wave/electro/EBM ?

Gin Devo: Vomito Negro’s music is all about life and death, how well and how badly people can behave, about situations they are put in…

About how we get manipulated and brainwashed in our daily lives.

Vomito Negro uses electronic instruments and lyrics to express all this.

Borg: I would use the words electronic, gloomy, dark and heavy ….

What is Vomito Negro’s line-up anno 2008?

Gin Devo: Me, Borg and for live support we sometimes invite our friend Liquid G.

Borg:  I was already responsible for the percussion, sound effects and backing vocals within Gin’s side project Pressure Control and will do the same with Vomito Negro.

Who are your musical heroes? Who influenced you?

Gin Devo: Most of my favourite bands are electronic and originated in the early`80’s, but I also listen also to traditional music, jazz etc.…

I don’t like to restrict myself to electronic music only… most electronic music makes me want to vomit… Whatever happened to originality?

How can you be innovating when you keep running in circles?

That’s why many pioneers of electronic music where so original… they were influenced by music that didn’t sound like them because it simply didn’t exist yet!
Borg: I like to think that I have a broad taste of music but with a strong preference for the somewhat harder and/or darker styles and bands … Skinny Puppy, Portion Control, Joy Division, DAF, Revolting Cocks, Front Line Assembly, Ministry and many many more!

Which contemporary EBM acts do you like?

Gin Devo: I think Skinny Puppy is still one of the best acts of today …

Most others bands are trying too hard to sound like their own heroes I’m afraid.
Borg: Of all bands which I mentioned before, I can still appreciate their recent work very much. Portion Control for example is still as exiting and committed today as they were in the early 1980s. I can recommend everyone their last albums!

Amongst the ‘younger’ bands I like for instance what Spetsnaz and Proceed are doing, especially live they really rock!

Where do you get your inspiration for the lyrics from ? What are they about?

Gin Devo: The new Vomito album will focus on mind and mass control. Give the people bread and games so they don’t have to start to think about their lives and the world they live in. Our world is dominated by a few rich people who provoke conflicts, then arm both sides and keep the fighting going for as long as possible because war is money for them.

I never watch TV because the tube is one of the most effective mind & mass control machines ever invented. These days people try to live like TV characters, dress like them, eat like them, think like them and even have sex like the TV shows them …  How sick you can it get?

More & more people consider the TV as the centre of their home life. They even drop their children in front of the tube because it keeps them quiet without efforts…  Indeed because you are not raising children but you are actually growing plants in front of the TV!

As you mentioned before, you are working on a new Vomito Negro album? Can you tell us something more about that?

Gin Devo: We hope to have a new Vomito Negro album out early 2009.

It will be a strong album from the start to end and with the sound, spirit & feel like ‘Dare’ and ‘The New Drug’.

We need a strong album to erase our dissatisfying ‘Fireball’ adventure but more news about that soon.

Borg: We are negotiating with some interesting labels but indeed our objective is to have a new and strong album out soon!

Do you have more future plans?

Gin Devo: Certainly! The BIM concert and the new album is only the beginning of what still has to come!

Borg: We’re going to kick some ass in 2009!

What can we expect from Vomito Negro on the BIM festival?

Gin Devo: Of course we will not disappoint our old school fans and play some of our classics that we run through our upgrade ‘grinder’ but without changing the sound too much, staying faithful to the real Vomito Negro sound and atmosphere.

We will also play some new songs, of our forthcoming album!

We have been working hard on the BIM show now for over 3 months, so we are more than ready!

Borg: You will get a strong audiovisual spectacle and we even invited our good friend Liquid G. to reinforce us on that big BIM stage!
 
What is your opinion on this year’s BIM festival line-up. Which bands do you plan to see?

Gin Devo: It’s a very interesting line-up and I think there will be some nice surprises that day…

Borg: I would like to see them all, but my experience is that I will most likely see only snapshots of the most acts. For this reason I went to a try-out concert of The Arch at beginning of this month. As a matter of fact, a band you should see at the BIMfest.

Tell us why our readers should come and see Vomito Negro on the BIM fest?

Gin Devo: We worked really hard to get Vomito Negro up and running again and like I said, we worked 3 months on this show… So to our fans I would say ‘BE THERE!’ … To the people that don’t know or even dislike us, put aside your prejudice and let us prove you wrong!
Borg: Why come and see us? Because Vomito Negro is back! Darker, stronger & harder than ever before!

Henk Vereecken

Join Vomito Negro on facebook!

THE CASSANDRA COMPLEX (UK)

Although The Cassandra Complex is a British band, they have an obvious link with our country as well. Throughout the main part of their career, the band was signed to the well-known Belgian label Play It Again Sam (PIAS). In 2007,  The Cassandra Complex already played several festival shows across Europe & South America featuring the original line-up (Rodney Orpheus, Paul Dillon and Andy Booth), plus the addition of guitarist Volker Zacharias (Girls Under Glass).
At the 7^th Bimfest, the 20th of December 2008 in Antwerp they’ll for sure please their Belgian fans as well! To prepare you for this event, we spoke to mastermind-singer Rodney Orpheus…

A lot of people aren't aware of the fact that the Cassandra Complex still exists. Isn't it difficult for you to regain the attention of those older fans?

RO: I suppose so... but we've been very pleasantly surprised at how many people have been excited to see us back. What's even better is there are people who were too young to see us before are now seeing us for the first time and loving it. That's really gratifying…

Were you satisfied with the response to the concerts you played during the last couple of years?

RO: Yeah, very much so. We really weren't sure what was going to happen, but people have been loving it.

What's, according to you, the main difference when you compare the CC anno 2008 to the band during the 80ies?

RO: Actually very little! When we got the original line-up back together again, we had no idea how it would sound (or feel), but as soon as we started rehearsing it was like 20 years just disappeared. We felt just like we'd never been away - and still just as angry as before! :-)

What can we expect from the new album?

RO: You'll know when you hear it...

How would you convince our readers to come and watch your band playing in Antwerp?

RO: We're still more exciting and still more revolutionary than most bands around now. Music is so damn BORING these days - that's why we decided to get back together, we kept going to gigs and thinking 'we're far more interesting than most of these new bands!' It's quite a sad thing really...

From the beginning on, this band was not easy to pigeonhole. Was it a conscious decision to experiment with different styles and not limit yourselves to one certain type of music?

RO: Yes, very much so. We never wanted to just fit in a box and stay there. It made things hard in some ways, because people could never categorise us, but in the long time we think that's part of our strength. We're not called Complex for nothing! :)

Where do you think you fit in today's music scene? Do you care about the critics at all?

RO: We've never cared about critics. Or music scenes. We've just done what we've felt was right. We care about what our audience think - we care about entertaining and educating them, about showing people new things, new ideas; and making powerful and exciting musical statements that really MEAN something.

What's your main purpose with this band, what do you still like to achieve?

RO: See above. We feel like we've only just scraped the surface of what we can do.

What's your opinion on the crisis in the music industry? Would you encourage downloading as a means for people to get to know your music?

RO: Sure, we love it when people download our music (we like it more if they pay as well, but the most important thing is that they listen). And we think the only 'crisis' in the music industry is that record companies have been releasing shit for the past few years. It's about time most of those morons in record companies lost their jobs.

Are you inspired by other musicians? Which contemporary bands do you listen to?

RO: We listen to bands from all periods of music, but right now I think the music biz is in the worst shape it's been in since the mid 70s. I can't remember the last really exciting new band I've heard... I went to see Throbbing Gristle a couple of years ago, and they were still the most revolutionary 'new' band I'd seen in years - even though they've been around since 1976. That's a pretty scary indictment of the modern music business...

Jan Vael

PLASTIC NOISE EXPERIENCE

(Een Nederlands vertaling kan u vinden op de Dark Entries website!)

Plastik Fantastik. On December the 20th Plastic Noise Experience will conquer the live stage of the Belgian Independent Music Festival. An ideal timing since PNE is about to release the latest effort „Reiz Und Reaktion“ in the beginning of December on the Alfa Matrix label. We hooked up with Claus Kruse for a chat…

Well, Claus it has been a long time ago, what are you up to these days? CK:I am very busy as always. Beside the Plastic Noise project I work in the synthesizer business and have a lot of work and projects at the same time. Is there any chance of new PNE material in the near future?

CK: Definitely yes. I just finished the work on my new album called “Reiz und Reaktion”. It will be released in Dezember 2008 and the alfa-matrix crew will offer it at the festival. I am really proud about it. Of cause I keep the old school PNE sound and style, this time I added some noise of my Sonic Unit project. We’ll talk about the new album further on, but let’s go back in time. “Dead Or Alive” appeared in 2006 but was mostly a reprise of older material in live or new versions?

It seems like these songs became real classics are still doing well these days? Have you got any explanation for this?

CK: I released the “Dead O Alive” album just because of the big demand for the old tracks. It was a lot of fun to me because for this project I had to reconnect all the old gear. I still have everything available, I never sell an instrument even if it becomes outdated.

For you, what’s the difference between a PNE track and most of the actual electronic music?

CK: PNE doesn’t follow actual trends because I just don’t care about trend of the music scene. Every PNE album represents only my current mood of the time it has been recorded and I personally didn’t change that much the type of music I like. So finally I didn’t changed the style of the plastic noise experience project.

What are your personal favorite PNE songs and why? Mine are; “D-ranged”, “Memory Flow” and “Kill What Kills You”... good or bad taste?

CK: Good taste, I like these tracks too. You selected 2 cover versions I pressed a radical PNE stamp on, “d-ranged” was originally planned as a remix for Paracont but they never released their ep, so I decided to release it by my own. “Kill What Kills You” was originally written by my friend Kazim Sarikaya, of The Serpents. I recorded that version during the studio session for the Serpent’s album “What Is Fear”.

Who will be onstage with PNE on the 20the of December in Antwerp (Belgian Independent Music Festival), will there be co-musicians?

CK: I will be supported on the keyboards by Steffen Gehring (Technoir) and Kazim Sarikaya (Serpents). I work with them both since more than 10 year and we are a good team and know each other well and how everything works.

In our bio on the Bimfest website (www.bimfest.be) we considered PNE as the German electro band with the biggest ‘Belgian’ feel. Does PNE has a particular bond with Belgium? You’ve been on Belgian labels (KK Records, Alfa Matrix). Do you agree?

CK: Definitely yes, to play in Belgium is always amazing. We have such a great fanbase over there and its always a lot of fun to meet the same people since almost 20 years. I guess PNE’s Belgian feel is caused by the fact that I listened that much to the music of the 80th and early 90th from Belgium…

Talking about Belgian electronic music... The Klinik is as headliner on the Bimfest? What about teaming up on stage with Dirk Ivens again?

CK: I really can’t wait to see The Klinik show. My plan is to listen to the original version of “Moving Hands”. I hope they will concider a real reunion. Anyway, the festival is a great chance to see them live after such a long time. They are definitely one of my big influences.

Can you give one or more good reasons why everybody should get out the 20the of December and come o the bimfest and especially witness the PNE live show?

CK: We will offer a collection of almost 20 years of PNE material. The new set will offer a tracks from all years, starting from “transmission” tracks up to “reiz und reaction”.

Can you tell something more about the conception of the new album “Reiz Und Reaktion”?

CK: I did all the recording during this year on a new set of equipment. I am very proud of it and I like the sound a lot. Basically it’s still PNE and everybody will recognize this immediately. The lyrics are in german as a basic concept because of the rough sound of the German language.

Any other influences?

CK: All influences by PNE The song titles seem very straight forward like the music? CK: Yes, most of the tracks are uptempo and catchy, it was big fun to record the album.

Can you tell a bit more about your projecr Sonic Unit? Some tracks are included on the limited edition of the album.

CK: Sonic Unit was my solo project 10 years ago but it had never been released officially. It’s based on special wavetables I made especially for this project. The result is very unique and all the tracks have theire own athmosphere. It has its own industrial sound and some bands already used my old demos already as sampling source. So I am very glad about the project.

And what about the “Select And Destroy” ep, according the label much harsher? A special story behind it?

CK: My plan was to release “Select And Destroy” last year but unfortunately I couldn’t make it because of other important projects during that time. It sounds much harsher than “Reiz Und Reaktion” because I recorded the tracks directly after the remake sessions of “Dead Or Alive”. I decided to put these tracks on the limited edition together with the Sonic Unit project on the limited edition of the “Reiz Und Reaktion” album. All in all the limited version includes 3 PNE releases. And of course a follow up for the 'Smalltown Boy' cover... 'I feel love', why that song? Because it’s a great song and it’s a part of famous Bronski Beat covers. I like that kind of cover versions and I believe its fits perfect to the ebm club scene. Of cause we will bring a special live version to the festival.

Thanks for the interview, see you on December the 20th!

Kut Nigels

http://www.plasticnoise.de

NO MORE

They are very famous for their 1981 minimal wave hit “Suicide Commando”. But don’t mistake No More for a ‘one hit wonder’ - not even a ‘one classic wonder’ as stated in the interview! They have several other fine new wave tunes as you can hear e.g. on “7 Years - A Compilation 1979-1986”, a recommendable compilation that deals with the first incarnation of the band. In 2006 Andy Schwarz and Tina Sanudakura decided - while working on the “Remake/Remodel” album that celebrated 25 years of “Suicide Commando” - to write a new chapter in No More's existence. So No More are back on stage with a strong set of old and new songs and of course “Suicide Commando”!

Can you introduce No More to the younger generation that isn’t always familiar with the band?

Andy Schwarz: We’re from Kiel, a German town north of Hamburg at the Baltic Sea.

Tina Sanudakura: No More started out as a quartet in 1979, as some kind of no wave/post-punk band. After our first release the bassplayer left and we continued as a trio.

Andy: That was the point of the first major change. We recorded “Suicide Commando” and the sound became more electronic. Today one would call this cold wave or dark wave or minimal wave. Around 1983 we became a quartet again and the sound got less electronic and stressed more the guitarside.

Tina: And we split in 1986. Andy and I started The Nijinsky Style. After that was over around 1994 we didn’t make music for quite a long time. But now we’re back from the dead.

When you began making music, what were your musical sources of inspiration?

Andy: In the beginning of No More this was mainly everything from that punk or post-punk era. Early Ultravox (the John Foxx version), Wire, Siouxsie & the Banshees, Adverts, Chrome, all the no wave ‘stars’ from New York like Lydia Lunch with Teenage Jesus, James White, DANN and so on. And some German bands and some bands from the Kiel scene. Too much to mention. Tina: And some of the stuff we listened to before punk, like glamrock, Bowie, Roxy Music was and still is important to us

The song “Suicide Commando” became a real new wave cult classic. How do you look back at this song after 27 years? Can you tell us something more about the origin of that song and about the ‘making of’? And what about the lyrics? Who is/was Lydia?

Andy: We had played “Suicide Commando” for some time live but although everybody considered it to be a potential ‘hit’, we weren’t quite happy with the arrangement.

Tina: To cut a long story short: we reduced the arrangement to a minimum, found that combination of the drummachine with the echo stomp box and sent it through a small guitar amp. That was that.

Andy: To give away the recording secret is one thing, explaining a songs meaning another.But like many of my lyrics, “Suicide Commando” refers as well to ‘real’ people I know as to people, figures or events in art or history. And the most interesting question is: Who is King Kong?

Is it true that the band developed some sort of love/hate relationship with that song? It is said that No More refused to play the song “Suicide Commando” for some time. Is that true and if it is true, what was the reason for that?

Andy: Yes, this is true. At first nearly noone was interested in the “Suicide Commando” single. The success started at the end of 1983, about two years after the release. In the meantime we had released the “A Rose Is A Rose” mini-LP and had developed into another direction.

Tina: We weren’t capable of recreating the recording live at the time. That’s much easier today. Andy: And we were of course very ‘indie’. I think we didn’t play the song live from the end of 1984 until the last concert before the split in 1986.

Tina: What seems to be a mistake at first sight is perhaps one of the reasons for “Suicide Commando”  becoming a classic. The song has developed a life of its own.

Andy: The song didn’t care whether No More was en vogue or not. And we’re not a one hit wonder, we’re a one classic wonder – that’s far better.

Did you know that Belgian electro act Suicide Commando named himself after that song?

Andy: At first I thought this was a mere coincidence. Years later I read that he named the group after our song. We feel honored.

What are your favorite No More songs? My personal top 3 is: “Suicide Commando”, “I Still Bear The Scars” and “Istanbul”.

Tina: Like most artists I’d say that new songs like “Sunday Mitternacht” and “Esther Says” are my favorites. And “In A White Room”, the “Suicide Commando” b-side which we haven’t played live since 1983 or so. This song has such a special feel – we underrated that song in the past.

Andy: My personal highlights are, “Suicide Commando”, “Dim The Lights”, which is another real No More classic and particularly “Quiet Days/On Celluloid” – a mash-up of an old and a new song.

In the beginning No More made so called minimal wave. After some time the sound changed and No More began to play some kind of dark wave with oriental element. Why this change of musical direction?

Tina: It wasn’t a sudden change. It slowly grew and at some point we wanted to get a sound that was bigger and not so bleak.

Andy: We became ‘obsessed’ with that oriental sound, in the end it was too much “Lawrence Of Arabia”. But we still play “Istanbul”.

The band split in 1986. And now after 20 years No More is back! What’s the story behind the reunion?

Andy: At first Tina and I only wanted to do a jubilee-compilation - 25 years of “Suicide Commando” - with different versions and remixes. But we ended up adding a new instrumental version, videos, mash-ups and even new songs.

Tina: That’s what became the “Remake/Remodel” cd. About that time we curated an exhibition in Kiel about the Kiel post-punk scene between 1977-1982. We realized that we could start No More again. But we knew that we couldn’t continue from where we stopped.

Andy: We realized we had to go back in time (like Sam Tyler) and continue from the start.

What are your plans for the near future?

Tina: Playing live as much as possible, recording the new songs - and having fun. What can we expect from the concert at the BIMfest in Antwerp?

Andy: What could one answer to such a question? There was this young girl after the gig in Poznan, Poland. She saw our gig by accident and was amazed and mesmerized. She expected nothing and she got that whole post-punk-electronica-kraut-glam of No More.

Tina: But when you told her that this was the first No More concert since 22 years, she said: “Oh, then you are old...”. You destroyed her expectations.

Andy: So you better expect nothing.

What’s your opinion about the BIMfest 2008 line up? Are there bands that you would like to see yourself?

Andy: It’s a very interesting and varied high class line up. We played with Vomito Negro in St.-Niklaas in ’85 or ’86. I can’t recall how they sounded then but I like what they’re doing now.

Tina: We saw Cassandra Complex a long time ago, they had the same German publisher. They are definitely something I’m looking forward to.

Do you have a last message for our readers? Why should they come and see the No More concert in Hof Ter Lo, Antwerp.

There was this Belgian guy who studied in Kiel – we called him “Bernd, der Belgier” (Bernd, the Belgian). He took the first copies of “Suicide Commando” to Belgium and Belgium became the starting point for the songs success. So we are really looking to the Antwerp BIMfest.

Henk Vereecken

Suicide Commando

She was my dark haired Lydia
Of my suburban German dreams
And he was the boy called James
And it will all end up like the York scene
Too much drugs, too much pills
And too much songs

Suicide commando
Suicide commando

King Kong was a murderer
But it was me
I can't stand the scene at all
You are hip and you are down
You are hip and you are down
Find a city, find a room
And find a drug

Suicide commando

CATHOLIC BOYS IN HEAVY LEATHER (CH)

Catholic Boys In Heavy Leather is an electro-industrial act from Switzerland, most famous for their hilarious ‘cover’ of Boney M’s 'Daddy Cool'. Their only album until now, 'Nobody Urged You To Get Canonised' (2007), is a holy mass of sampling and industrial preaching, concerning the two most important topics in modern civilization: sex and religion! In 2008 there was the release of the ep 'Rasputeen In Heavy Leather', a collaboration between Catholic Boys In Heavy Leather and German minimal/ebm act Rasputeen.

Can you introduce Catholic Boys In Heavy Leather to the Belgian public?

CBIHL: Well Catholic Boys In Heavy Leather are:
Joke Stryker: Vocals & noise
Rotor Siffredi: Electronics & noise

How would you describe the music you make? To me, it seems to be the ideal mix between industrial and EBM...

CBIHL: Yes! That's righty right! ...And we add a shot of Punk & Disco!

What are your musical sources of inspiration?

CBIHL: Leather Nun, Black leather Jesus, Rob Halford, Freddie Mercury, DAF, Suicide, Trobbing Gristle, Intrinsic, Ereasure, Slayer, Frankie Goes To Hollywood, Giorgio Moroder, Fad Gadget, ... 

Can you tell us something more about the making of the album 'Nobody Urged You To Get Canonised' and about the reactions the album got?

CBIHL: This album is a mx of live recordings and studio tracks. We consider ourselves as a live experience and we did not want t release an album at all. But after five years of existence we got urged by all our friends and believers to do it. We received highly positive reactions and even some erections throughout the press and community.

In my opinion, the highlight of the album is the hilarious 'cover' of Boney M's 'Daddy Cool'. Who's idea was this?

CBIHL: Well, we both grew up with Boney M and it was just totally obvious that one day we would have to make a cover version of this fantastic song.

Can you tell us something more about the Rasputeen In Heavy Leather collaboration?

CBIHL: Since or first live appearance at Maschinenfest in 2004 we became very good friends with the whole Rasputin crew. This collaboration was especially designed for the 10th anniversary of Maschinenfest this year. 

Are the guys in the band really gay or is it just part of the gay/catholic image of the band? Is this image meant as a sort of Marilyn Mansonesk provocation of conservative christians right-wing citizens?

CBIHL: As you might know, the most important things in Western civilisation are sex and religion. That's what we represent on stage! It's a ideal combination for this new generation. It is not important whether we are gay or not. Everybody should have his very own and unique form of sexuality and religion.

Did the band ever get in trouble with authorities, institutions (church?) or angry citizens?

CBIHL: Yes, once we got incriminated by conservative Christians for public Blasphemy and perversion. They accused us verbally on their website but never had the courage to get in touch with us and discuss things.

What can we expect from the concert at the BIMfest in Antwerp?

CBIHL: What you always get from a catholic Boys In Heavy Leather show! A FIST FOR PEACE!

Do you have a last message for our readers? Why should they come and see the Catholic Boys In Heavy Leather concert at the BIMfest in Antwerp?

CBIHL: Come and have a beer with us! You will never forget! Thanks for the Support!
HALLELUJA!  

Henk Vereecken

http://www.catholicboys.ch

We are charmed by the combination of synthesizer sequences and chords at one side and rough guitars at the other side. We are making bridges between electronica and guitars. We don’t like to have a stamp on our music, it’s a mixture of different styles.

Why did you choose the name The Arch for the band?

There is a story about the band being the arch in the sense of a bow. Our songs are the arrows that are shot in the public by the arch.

On their website (myspace) The Arch complains about a lack of interest in their music in Belgium and so they had to focus abroad. Can you tell us more about that? Can we say that The Arch was (is?) more successful abroad than in Belgium? And which countries are we speaking about then?

There are bands in Belgium that are successful, but only in Belgium. At the opposite, there are Belgian bands that are only successful outside the country (indeed, a bit our case). And there are bands that have success in Belgium and outside: that’s the ideal. And at last, there are groups that have no success at all. It’s difficult to say why or why not. The friendliest countries for us were Germany, the Netherlands and Canada. But the songs are living their life and are going their own way. We were recently released on compilations in Australia (Mix-CD 'Light Sound Dance' by the Bang Gang DJ’s on Modular Records) and Brasil ('Compilation Wave Klassix volume 2', Wave records Sao Paolo). It’s also nice that songs of us are covered by other bands ('Ribdancer' by Freak XXI, an industrial/EBM band from Barcelona, Spain)

Maybe the most wellknown and in any case the most intriguing The Arch song is 'Babsi Ist Tot' inspired by the life of Berlin junk Christiane F. Can you tell us the story behind this song? And was it the book 'Wir Kinder vom Bahnhof Zoo' or the movie (with David Bowie) that gave you the idea for the song? Is the song 'Babsi Ist Tot' also meant as a moral lesson: ‘please stay away from hard drugs?’. Or not?

The reading of the book triggered the song. It is not meant to moralize about hard drugs but to keep this beautiful girl remembered. We grew up in the wild seventies, the time of the holy anarchy. But also for us, ‘soldiers of the seventies’, a girl at the age of 14, dying because of heroin, is a sad story.

Can you tell us something more about some other The Arch songs (some of my personal favorites) and what are their lyrics about? For instance songs like 'Revenge Revival', 'No Noise' and 'Ribdancer'?

Revenge Revival' is about desires that disappear as soon they are fulfilled. A reached longing creates the opposite desire. ‘If I’m in, I wanna be out, if I’m out, I wanna be in’.
Or: ‘If I’m whole alone, I wanna be in the crowd, If I’m in the crowd, I wanna be whole alone.’

'No Noise' is about the silence of a broken love, with no hope for recovery.

'The Ribdancer' is about four chaps that are imprisoned by a female magician. The boys are her slaves and her servants, also sexually. One morning they managed to stun their mistress and they escape. The words of the refrain are her message to her escaped slaves: ‘come back to me, leave the tricky track of freedom. In my prison there is safety and security.’

The single 'Can’t Live In A Living Room' is the most recent release by The Arch. Why did you decide to record a cover of the famous Red Zebra song?

What are your plans for the near future?

Why should our readers come and see the concert?

Henk Vereecken

 Babsi Ist Tot

No more blood in the vains,
No more vains in the body,
No more body in the story
Starring
Babsi

I see you seeking vains,
You can't find one
Time is running.
You get angry,
You're body's fusing.

You get mad,
The needle gets...
Anywhere
Anywhere

You were running at high,
You were sucking at low,
Till the nearly last goodbye,
Oh babe, I don't know why,

So I could cry.
Babsi's body,
body Babsi.

And the mothers and the fuckers
And the preachers and the teachers
And her majesty the queen,
They say you sold your body to your soul.

Just to feel some kind of good.
Your body is chemical reaction,
Your soul has the choice
For the chemicals.

I wonder,
Where are the atoms
That were part of your body,
Would there be such an atom in me.

I think my words have no sense,
I just wanna keep you alive
In everyone's memory.

You were running at high,
You were sucking at low,
Till the nearly last goodbye,
Oh babe, I don't know why,
So I could cry.

Babsi's body, body Babsi.

And the mothers and the fuckers
And the preachers and the teachers
And her majesty the queen,
They say you sold your body to your soul.
Just to feel some kind of good.

You were running at high,
You were sucking at low,
Till the nearly last goodbye,
Oh babe, I don't know why,
So I could cry.

Babsi's body, body Babsi.

And the mothers and the fuckers
And the preachers and the teachers
And her majesty the queen,
They say you sold your body to your soul.

Just to feel some kind of good.