{"id":13337,"date":"2020-01-15T11:50:49","date_gmt":"2020-01-15T10:50:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/elgarajedefrank.es\/?p=13337"},"modified":"2023-09-29T21:37:53","modified_gmt":"2023-09-29T19:37:53","slug":"interview-kmfdm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/elgarajedefrank.es\/en\/interview-kmfdm\/","title":{"rendered":"Interview: KMFDM"},"content":{"rendered":"

KMFDM has been pushing the boundaries of industrial music and at the same time making it more popular for more than 35 years. Twenty-one albums have been published in this time (the last one Paradise, <\/i>just a few months ago), in which the band has known how to update its overwhelming sound and keep the sharpness of the lyrics. We talked with Sascha Konietzko, who will play with his band on the 21st of May at the W-Fest. Are you ready for the Ultra-Heavy Beat?<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"\u2014KMFDM started as a performance art project. How were the first concerts of the band? Did you really play the vacuum cleaner?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014The first concert of what later became abbreviated to KMFDM<\/strong> was on Feb. 29, 1984 at the Grand Palais in Paris, France. It was a collaboration between me and a group of painters\/sculptors from Hamburg and Cologne that went by the name of Erste Hilfe (First Aid\/Premier Secours). I was asked to do some audio accompaniment to the grand opening of an exhibition at the Palais. So I went and got what I could get my hands on from pawn shops along Rue St. Denis.<\/span><\/p>\n

Among the stuff I was able to procure were some vacuum cleaners, a broken synthesizer (ARP 2600) a bass guitar and an (Ampef) bass amplifier. I did my very best to come up with some spontaneous sonic chaos. It didn\u2019t go over too well once glass panes from the ceiling of that structure started to fall down, shattering on the floor amongst the (few) visitors. The sculptors had smeared concrete all over the glass entrances and some people fled in somewhat of a panic. It was quite an uproar. Though I really enjoyed it\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014You started this rumor of KMFDM meaning Kill Mother Fuckers Depeche Mode, right? Have Depeche Mode ever known about this?\"\"<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014I am pretty sure that they must\u2019ve heard about it \ud83d\ude09<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014In your first cassette Opium<\/em>, (1984) Raymond Watts already plays. How did you meet him? He has been in and out of the band during a lot of years.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014He was an expat from the UK living in a broom closet at a friend\u2019s house here in Hamburg, at that time. He had access to a WWII air raid shelter in which were stored a bunch of instruments belonging to members of ABW\u00c4RTS<\/strong> (a notorious punk band from Hamburg) some of which had recently joined Einst\u00fcrzende Neubauten<\/strong> in Berlin. We used spare time to record weird things there. Over the years since, he\u2019s popped in and out, our schedules were quite different.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014What do you know, Deutschland? <\/em>(1986) It was the first collaboration with artist Aidan Hughes and he has done almost all the covers of the band. What do you find in his work that suits the music of the band?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014At first I didn\u2019t really think much about it, I simply liked his style. Over time it became the visual brand, a recognizable image of the bands visual appearance.<\/span><\/p>\n

Having been an adept follower of Frank Zappa<\/strong>\u2019s work, I liked the \u201cconceptual continuity\u201d aspect of it more and more. Although the continuity had to be interrupted sometimes just for the hell of it.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"\u2014How was the influence of Adrian Sherwood\u00a0in the production of Don\u2019t Blow Your Top? <\/em>(1988) You were already interested in dub and reggae, right?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014I\u2019d been into dub and reggae since the late \u201960s, and was a huge admirer of Adrian\u2019s body of work. I was friendly with the guys from Mark Stewart and the Maffia<\/strong> (who came from being the house band at Sugarhill Records) and finally simply hit up Adrian, saying something along the lines of: \u201cHey man, I really like your shit, would you be into mixing a few tracks for my project?\u201d And, to my surprise, he agreed \ud83d\ude09<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014What happened with Naive? <\/em>(1990) Was it retired because there were some samples of Carmina Burana? Was this the beginning of the problems with samples? A different version Naive\/Hell <\/em>(1993) to go<\/em> was released later, right?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014Yeah, some people got wind of the samples being used and they threatened the record label (Wax Trax!) with a huge law suit, so they took the thing off the shelves, I could have given two shits, never had anything to lose anyway\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014How was Chicago in the early nineties? I read in Laurent Garnier\u2019s biography that it was a bit dangerous.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014Yes, quite so. Where I stayed there were frequent drive-by shootings, every Friday and Saturday, once a guy got shot dead right underneath my kitchen window. I spied on the pigs as they collected all the bullet casings\u2026.. They shot him 16 times, but only found 15, I found (and kept to this day) the 16th<\/sup> one<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014You lived in the offices of Wax Trax! at the beginning of your stay in Chicago, right? How was the atmosphere and everything related to this now-legendary label?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014Complete and utter chaos was the daily regimen, I loved it there. I lived there from early \u201991 until late \u201992. It was quite an experience.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014You said that Money<\/em> (1992) was made in a hurry and that you did not like it that much, but for \"\"some fans it\u2019s one of the best albums. What do you think now of that work? It was supposed to be a double album, right?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014It was initially supposed to be an A-side made by myself and a B-side made by the other guys in the band at that time,\u00a0but the label owners (Jim and Dannie), they laughed when they heard it first and thought that the pressing plant had printed somebody else\u2019s music onto the B-side, not anything like KMFDM<\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n

So I had to rush and come up with some more material in order to have an album worth of materials, since we had already planned and booked KMFDM<\/strong>\u2019s first \u201creal big\u201d tour of the US. We had toured in \u201991 as headliners already and with good success, but the tour in \u201992 was going to be BIG, and the label wanted the album ready in order to support the tour and the release, vice versa\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014Angst<\/em> (1993) is considered to be the \u201cheaviest album,\u201d thanks to the great guitar work. You are a fan of metal music, right? Which bands do you like?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014In my mind, ANGST wasn\u2019t all that heavy, but it might have been to some \u2026 and btw, I was never really big on metal, I simply liked\u00a0the speed-riffing which I always found to go along great with dance beats.<\/span><\/p>\n

Thinking of \u201cheavy\u201d KMFDM<\/strong> albums, WWIII<\/em>, HAU RUCK<\/em> and TOHUVABOHU<\/em> come to mind.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"\u2014Some songs of Nihil <\/em>(1995, for some people the best album of the first part) are featured in movies like Bad Boys or anime like Street Fighter II. Do you think they are specially cinematographic? Or were they chosen because the band was quite famous at the time?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014They were chosen because the synch department at TVT Records (who had effectively swallowed up Wax Trax! at that time) were doing a stellar job!<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014The recording of Xtort<\/em> (1996) was without any doubt something unique in KMFDM history. You counted with the horn section from Tower of Power and included a lot of studio musicians. Was it difficult to work with so many people?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014Not at all, it was one of the most enjoyable productions I did in the \u201990s. I knew the Tower Of Power guys already, they were hanging out at a session in another room at Chicago Recording Co., so I simply asked them if they were up for it. XTORT<\/em> came together in a few short months, it was probably one of the fastest productions I ever did.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014Adios<\/em> (1999<\/strong>) was the album of the break-up, was difficult to record?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014Nope, it was super-easy, just didn\u2019t invite everyone into the studio at the same time, we did it in \u201cshifts\u201d so people could stay out of each other\u2019s way.<\/span><\/p>\n

And in hindsight, it wasn\u2019t really a break-up, more of a strategical move to give everybody some space and time in order to find perspective and think about a future, perhaps.\"\"<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014Attack<\/em> (2002) is the first album with the new line up (you and Lucia Cifarelli). How did you get the idea of coming back? How was the recording of the album<\/strong>?<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014Actually, ATTAK<\/em> featured a lot of people, all from previous incarnations of the lineup, Lucia was the only new-ish name, she was a natural addition since we had worked together for 2 years prior to the reformation of KMFDM<\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014The recording of WTF? <\/em>(2011) took the band 14 months and everything was redone. What happened with the first version of the album?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014I seriously do not remember, 14 months of work to make an album isn\u2019t so remarkable, ain\u2019t it? I know of some albums\/people\u00a0that took\u00a0much, much longer \ud83d\ude09<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014In Kurst <\/em>(2013), <\/em>the song \u201cPussy Riot\u201d is written in support of the band of the same name. Did you have any problem with censorship or politics during the long career of the band?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014MTV was giving us a hard time about some things although we never asked them to play our stuff in the first place, so when they contacted us and wanted us to self-censor in order for them to play our stuff I simply told them to: FUCK OFF!<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014Hell yeah (<\/em>2017) got really good reviews, and is considered to be one of the best albums of 2017 by Allmusic. How do you manage to continue delivering good records after so many years? What do you think the public expects from a KMFDM album?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014It\u2019s most likely the fact that we don\u2019t really think about WHAT EXACTLY is expected from KMFDM;<\/strong> thus we\u2019re enjoying complete freedom. In fact, I am just now finalizing a new KMFDM<\/strong> album that is 100% old school dub reggae. Just because I CAN \ud83d\ude09<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"\u2014Paradise <\/em>(2019) is your last album from this year. You released just a few months ago. What can you tell us about the album? It\u2019s a very politic one, isn\u2019t it?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014Aren\u2019t they all for the most part? Well, we\u2019re just simply not into writing lyrics about weird shit, like what hurts us in the depth of our underpants\/souls, etc.<\/span><\/p>\n

We\u2019re straight shooters. And politics are more important than ever, we believe.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014Have you ever thought of working again with En Esch or Gunter Schulz or make an original line up tour?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014Who are they ?\u00a0 Hell no, not over my cold dead body, I will never ever deal with them again. They declined my invitation to rejoin forces back in 2002, to restart KMFDM<\/strong> on fresh terms, on a clean slate so to speak. Instead they dragged me into some bogus lawsuits and started badmouthing KMFDM<\/strong>. It was quite a short-sighted act of self besmirching on their part, hahaha<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014Can you tell us a bit about your side projects, Schwein, KGC, OK\u2022ZTEIN\u2022OK and Excessive Force?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014They were all ore or less just that, one-off side projects. Sometimes it\u2019s fun to work with people outside of the safe haven that KMFDM<\/strong> usually provides, to step out there and throw stuff against the proverbial wall, just to see what sticks \ud83d\ude09<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014What happened with the second album of your other project MDFMK?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014Nothing happened to it, it\u2019s stored away in a safe deposit box.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014What can you tell us of your future concert at W-Fest?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014We\u2019re looking very much forward to playing gigs here in Europe again, hell, I can\u2019t even remember when the last time was that we played shows over here.<\/span><\/p>\n

If you want more info about KMFDM, you can check this interesting interview in ElektropSpank magazine.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n