Kunst is
your 18th record, did you ever think this band would have reached this many
albums?
When I
started I didn't even think of making even one album, let alone do this for 29
years.
You are
never one to hold back your true feelings on anything, especially the system,
this record was inspired by the plight of Pussy Riot. Where were you when you
first heard of their incarceration?
As for PR, I
knew about them a long, long time before they got incarcerated, actually since
the frozen chicken episode probably, then saw the footage of the 'punk prayer'
within maybe 1-2 hours of it going down and followed the wholly folly of the
trials closely. I live in Germany, that' where I was at the time.
If there is
anything you could say to those women, what would it be?
I'm proud of
you and your message and support you in your plight, no pasarán ! hasta la
victoria siempre!
Does the
cover of Kunst also reflect Pussy Riot’s cause, a woman taking a chainsaw to a
crucifix?
The Ukrainian
feminist group FEMEN actually felled a cross in Kiev in protest to PR's
incarceration, it's an illustration of an actual event that took place, look it
up on YouTube.
Hailing from
Germany, especially at a time when censorship and Big Brother was watching, do
you feel you can relate to the women of Pussy Riot?
I am not
sure what you mean by relating big brother and censorship to Germany. Censorship
in Germany is almost inexistent, except for child-pornography and Nazi-stuff.
If you try
to make a cause in regards to the 70's wave of terrorist activities by the
Baader-Meinhof gang and the Red Army Faction and the resulting systematic
manhunt network of computer-based profiling of nearly the entire population,
then no, I do not relate to PR because of my historical background.
I relate to
them because they have balls and they are not afraid to show that. Political
activism is important. It is necessary for the ones in power to hear the voice
of discontent in order to give them a chance to perhaps pause and rethink, regroup
and reconsider.
What did you
do differently on Kunst that you had not done before with the band?
Nothing
intentionally, they just all turn out different from one another, like
children...
Also on
Kunst, you finally address the “Kill Mother Fucking Depeche
Modes” false
acronym that has hovered over the band for so long. Why now? Also, do you have
any disdain for Depeche Mode?
Funny huh?
DM= ok
In 1999,
KMFDM said Adios, but in 2002 you came back. What caused the comeback and now
10 years into the reunion you show no signs of stopping. Will anything ever
derail this band at this point?
I felt like
doing something different for a while at the same time regrouping the line-up
of KMFDM which had got stuck in internal strife, so i renamed the whole into
MDFMK and made an album on Universal and went to Japan with a guitar-playing
one-eyed 7-foot robot named Zyclor.
Aidan
"Brute!" Hughes has played such an important role in this bands image. How
did your relationship with him come about? What is your favorite cover he has
done?
We have been
introduced in 1987 and have worked closely ever since. He lends brand-identity
and visual personality to our music. I like not one particular image but the
thing as a whole.
Politics and
social situations have always been at the forefront of KMFDM’s music. What do
you say about the world we live in now?
I won't say
much about the world, because I can't say shit about things I don't really
know. But what regards the state of Europe and the US, the only places I know a
little bit about is this:
The system
is what we let our 'democratically elected representatives' get away with over
time. We don't even really value our democratic constitutions because we have
become politically disinterested and alienated, therefore don't even make an
effort to follow what is going on in 'politics' anymore. A leading class
that feels unchecked by the people that initially empowered them is running
astray and loses course and direction.
I am not getting
started here on money, banking and capitalism in general, suffice it say that
we released KMFDM is a drug against wall street, a slightly altered version of
the KMFDM classic A Drug Against War
Now, back on
the road, are the shows just as brutal as they have been in the past? What can
fans expect on tour from you now?
Shows as
brutal as ever & then some...