{"id":31912,"date":"2021-05-13T10:40:10","date_gmt":"2021-05-13T08:40:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/elgarajedefrank.es\/?p=31912"},"modified":"2024-05-29T13:21:12","modified_gmt":"2024-05-29T11:21:12","slug":"interview-suicide-commando","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/elgarajedefrank.es\/en\/interview-suicide-commando\/","title":{"rendered":"Interview: Suicide Commando"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\"><strong>Suicide is only the solution when we are talking about Suicide Commando, the legendary Belgian act that started making abrasive industrial music. Their style changed along the years to end up with the harsh electro sound that made them famous. We have chatted with Johan Van Roy about the story of a band that will be one of the main acts of the<\/strong><strong> Darkmad festival that is going to take place in Madrid, on the 15th and 16th of October.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt; font-family: georgia, palatino, serif;\"><strong><span class=\"s1\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-31953\" src=\"https:\/\/elgarajedefrank.es\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/IMG_9109-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"450\" height=\"338\" srcset=\"https:\/\/elgarajedefrank.es\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/IMG_9109-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/elgarajedefrank.es\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/IMG_9109-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/elgarajedefrank.es\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/IMG_9109-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/elgarajedefrank.es\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/IMG_9109-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/elgarajedefrank.es\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/IMG_9109-1170x878.jpg 1170w, https:\/\/elgarajedefrank.es\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/IMG_9109-585x439.jpg 585w, https:\/\/elgarajedefrank.es\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/IMG_9109.jpg 1776w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px\" \/>\u2014How was the Belgium that saw the birth of Suicide Commando? Nowadays, each documental tries to explain music according to the sociopolitical aspects of the time. Do you find any relation between your beginnings and the situation in your country?<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\"><span class=\"s1\">\u2014<\/span>I\u2019m sure the eighties had their impact on me and my music. I grew up in the eighties with the new wave movement (with bands like <strong>The Cure<\/strong>, <strong>Sisters of Mercy<\/strong>, <strong>Joy Division<\/strong>\u2026 and later with bands like <strong>Front 242<\/strong>, <strong>The Neon Judgement<\/strong>,\u00a0<strong>Klinik<\/strong>&#8230;), which was highly influenced by the political crisis in those years with high unemployment\u2026<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">Even though it wasn\u2019t the main reason why I started making music, the dark and negative atmosphere of the eighties surely had their influence in my music.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p4\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt; font-family: georgia, palatino, serif;\"><strong>\u2014Your first self-titled cassettes were pure industrial. What were your influences back then? What did you want to achieve with the project at the time?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\"><span class=\"s1\">\u2014<\/span>Musically my biggest influence for sure was the music from<strong>\u00a0Klinik<\/strong>. When I discovered bands like <strong>Klinik,<\/strong> <strong>Front 242<\/strong>, <strong>Fad Gadget<\/strong>\u2026 I really wanted to start an electronic project, and so <strong>Suicide Commando<\/strong> was born.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 12pt; font-family: georgia, palatino, serif;\">I didn\u2019t have any goals when I started making music, for me my music all had to do with passion, passion for electronic music. And even today my passion for this kind of music is my biggest motivation.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt; font-family: georgia, palatino, serif;\"><strong>\u2014Do you think that the industrial scene changed from the end of the seventies to the end of the eighties? I mean that after ten years it was still mainly cassette-based\u00a0and very underground.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\"><span class=\"s1\">\u2014<\/span>I don\u2019t think the industrial scene changed that much in those early years.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">Indeed everything was still very underground and many bands just started with releasing tapes, even bands like <strong>Front Line Assembly<\/strong>, <strong>Nitzer Ebb<\/strong>\u2026 all started this way.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">The main difference for sure were the technical limitations. Synths still were extremely expensive in those years, samplers were even more expensive and very limited in possibilities. Tapes and vinyl were still common.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">The real technological revolution started in the early nineties with the arrival of computers and the rise of the compact disc&#8230;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt; font-family: georgia, palatino, serif;\"><strong><span class=\"s1\">\u2014Can you tell me how was the music of your albums <em>Crap <\/em>and <em>Go to hell<\/em>? I could not find them. Any plan of a reissue of all this material?<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-31956\" src=\"https:\/\/elgarajedefrank.es\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/IMG_9880-241x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"450\" height=\"560\" srcset=\"https:\/\/elgarajedefrank.es\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/IMG_9880-241x300.jpg 241w, https:\/\/elgarajedefrank.es\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/IMG_9880.jpg 514w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px\" \/><\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\"><span class=\"s1\">\u2014<\/span>Both <em>Crap<\/em> and <em>Go to hell<\/em> were in the same line as my other early tapes, very experimental, minimal and industrial.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">Over the years I\u2019ve been getting many requests for doing reissues of my old demo tapes, so far we did reissue the last 2 demo tapes <em>Black Flowers<\/em> and <em>Electro Convulsion Therapy<\/em>, and right now there are plans for reissuing the very first demo tape from 1988 on vinyl.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p4\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt; font-family: georgia, palatino, serif;\"><strong>\u2014You recorded two albums with the band Stin Scatzor (each of you taking a side of the record) at the beginnings of the nineties. How was this collaboration born?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\"><span class=\"s1\">\u2014<\/span>End of the eighties I met Stefan Bens who just started his own project with <strong>Stin Scatzor<\/strong>, not much later we started an EBM project together called <strong>Lescure 13<\/strong>, and we indeed did these 2 split tapes together. I think it was a nice way to spread our music and with buying 1 tape you could discover 2 bands. It was an interesting way to reach more people.<span class=\"s2\"><br \/>\n<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt; font-family: georgia, palatino, serif;\"><strong><span class=\"s1\">\u2014How did you get into a more electro sound? Was <em>Into the Grave<\/em> the first seed of the future sound of Suicide Commando?<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\"><span class=\"s1\">\u2014<\/span>It wasn\u2019t a deliberate choice, but with extending my equipment bit by bit, I also got more possibilities music-wise, so I think it was more of a natural evolution of my sound. New equipment meant more possibilities.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">Maybe <em>Into the Grave<\/em> was the first tape with a more electro sound, but it wasn\u2019t intentional.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\"><strong><span class=\"s1\">\u2014What gear were you using during the first years of Suicide Commando? The recordings were done at home, right?<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\"><span class=\"s1\">\u2014<\/span>My first gear were the now legendary Roland SH101 synth, connected with a Boss Dr. Rhythm drum machine. That was basically it in the beginning. Slowly I started extending my gear with more drum machines and synths. It took me till 1995 and my 2<sup>nd<\/sup> CD album <strong>Stored Images<\/strong> to start working on a computer, with the now also legendary Atari 1040ST.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">All my recordings were done at home, my very first tape with a rented 4-track recorder from a friend. But even today I still do all my recordings at home, of course, with way more possibilities than in those early years.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"s1\" style=\"font-size: 12pt; font-family: georgia, palatino, serif;\"><strong><span class=\"s1\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-31959\" src=\"https:\/\/elgarajedefrank.es\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/R-8032672-1453836966-4131.jpeg-281x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"450\" height=\"480\" srcset=\"https:\/\/elgarajedefrank.es\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/R-8032672-1453836966-4131.jpeg-281x300.jpg 281w, https:\/\/elgarajedefrank.es\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/R-8032672-1453836966-4131.jpeg.jpg 389w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px\" \/>\u2014<\/span><em>E.C.T. (Electro Convulsion Therapy)<\/em> was your last self-released album. How did things change between this album and the following? I mean, a label started releasing your music&#8230; You used some of the songs from the release again in <em>Critical Stage<\/em>, why?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\"><span class=\"s1\">\u2014<\/span>Soon after the release of the <em>E.C.T.<\/em> tape I got the possibility to appear on some sort of split CD with 3 other rising bands. The CD was called <em>Induktion, Varianz und Deren Folgen<\/em> on Kugelblitz Records and the guy behind this small German label was Stefan Herwig. He soon after started to work for a way bigger German label called Off Beat, so I kind of joined him to this label.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 12pt; font-family: georgia, palatino, serif;\">In a way you can consider <em>Critical Stage<\/em> as some sort of \u201cbest of\u201d of my early years. It indeed had quite some songs from my last <em>E.C.T.<\/em> demo tape, but also some older reworked versions.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt; font-family: georgia, palatino, serif;\"><strong><span class=\"s1\">\u2014In <em>Critical Stage<\/em> you worked with Eric van Wonterghem and Dirk Ivens, how was working with them? You said before that they were a big influence on your work. One of the songs of this album has been released again by Dirk Ivens in his new Dive album. Do you like the new version?<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\"><span class=\"s1\">\u2014<\/span>Well, Belgium is very small, so it was pretty easy to get in touch with them. \ud83d\ude00<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">Eric was just running a mastering studio, so for me it was the perfect studio to master my first albums.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">Like I said, I adored<strong>\u00a0Klinik,<\/strong> so for sure they were a big influence for my music, and even today they still can be considered as one of the main influences.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">Yes, I heard Dirk\u2019s new version. I\u2019m not even sure Dirk still remembered he used those lyrics on my first album \ud83d\ude00<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">It\u2019s one of those typical experimental and minimal <strong>Dive<\/strong> songs, maybe not my favorite, but still typical <strong>Dive<\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt; font-family: georgia, palatino, serif;\"><strong><span class=\"s1\">\u2014Some people complained of the use of samples in <em>Mindstrip<\/em>. Years later, what do you think about it? It\u2019s true that now-a-days, dark electro bands use a lot of samples in their songs.<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-31970\" src=\"https:\/\/elgarajedefrank.es\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/R-215276-1207811876.jpeg.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"450\" height=\"446\" srcset=\"https:\/\/elgarajedefrank.es\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/R-215276-1207811876.jpeg.jpg 300w, https:\/\/elgarajedefrank.es\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/R-215276-1207811876.jpeg-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/elgarajedefrank.es\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/R-215276-1207811876.jpeg-50x50.jpg 50w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px\" \/><\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\"><span class=\"s1\">\u2014<\/span>I still love using samples, it can create a certain atmosphere which fits really well with the kind of music I\u2019m doing.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">It\u2019s true that I used a lot of samples on the <em>Mindstrip<\/em> album, but I only discovered that when I was working on the <em>Mindstrip Redux<\/em> album, re-working all the songs from the original <em>Mindstrip<\/em> album. So it certainly wasn\u2019t a deliberate choice to use so many samples. I also tried to use less samples on the <em>Redux<\/em> version, hopefully for the good.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt; font-family: georgia, palatino, serif;\"><span class=\"s1\"><strong>\u2014Thanks to the music of this period, you are considered one of the pioneers of the subgenre Aggrotech. What do you think of this style? Are you interested in any artist?<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\"><span class=\"s1\">\u2014<\/span>What\u2019s in a name? Aggrotech, Hellektro, Endzeit electro &#8230;all different names for the same music, in my opinion.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 12pt; font-family: georgia, palatino, serif;\">I don\u2019t really see myself as the \u201cinventor\u201d of this kind of electronic music, bands like <strong>Leaether Strip<\/strong> \u2026 were already doing music in the same direction before me. But it\u2019s true that the sudden success of the <em>Mindstrip<\/em> album back in 2000 started a boom in this kind of music, with many bands jumping on this Aggrotech train in the years after.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 12pt; font-family: georgia, palatino, serif;\">At first I really liked most bands jumping on this train, but after a while too many bands were all sounding the same and you got more quantity than quality, which I think was a pity as it led to some kind of overkill\/overdose of this kind of music.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 12pt; font-family: georgia, palatino, serif;\">The funny thing is that at first I got praised for somehow being the \u201cinventor\u201d or \u201cgodfather\u201d of Hellektro, Endzeit Electro \u2026 after the overdose I all of a sudden got blamed for all those copycats trying to sound like <strong>Suicide Commando<\/strong>. \ud83d\ude00<span class=\"s1\"><br \/>\n<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\"><strong><span class=\"s1\">\u2014In <em>Axis of Evil,<\/em> there are some references to Bush, in fact, the name of the album comes from an expression coined by him. Do you think that you can make people think with music? Are we going to have references to the current situation in future songs?<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\"><span class=\"s1\">\u2014<\/span>I\u2019m fully aware that my music or my lyrics won\u2019t change the world, but I\u2019m already satisfied if my music at least make people think about some issues for a moment.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 12pt; font-family: georgia, palatino, serif;\">I\u2019m not a political band at all, but over the years I wrote more songs about political issues that I personally don\u2019t agree with, songs like \u201cIn Guns We Trust\u201d (about the gun policy in the USA) or more recently \u201cBunkerb!tch\u201d (about political oppression) &#8230;for example.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\"><strong><span class=\"s1\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-31950\" src=\"https:\/\/elgarajedefrank.es\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/IMG_0957-300x149.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"450\" height=\"223\" srcset=\"https:\/\/elgarajedefrank.es\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/IMG_0957-300x149.jpg 300w, https:\/\/elgarajedefrank.es\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/IMG_0957-768x381.jpg 768w, https:\/\/elgarajedefrank.es\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/IMG_0957-585x290.jpg 585w, https:\/\/elgarajedefrank.es\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/IMG_0957.jpg 954w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px\" \/>\u2014<em>Bind Torture Kill<\/em> was a concept album about serial killers, the title coming from the alias of Dennis Rader.\u00a0What do you find interesting in them? Curiously when I was getting the questions ready, I found out that the serial killers who killed more people are from Peru and Ecuador, although sometimes we have a false idea of this being a USA thing.<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\"><span class=\"s1\">\u2014<\/span>I\u2019ve always had some kind of fascination for serial killers, not necessarily for their cruel actions in itself, but more some kind of fascination for the psychological aspect of it all, like what goes on in their mind when they commit such morbid and cruel actions, or what they were thinking when they committed their crimes, if it brought them any (sexual) satisfaction\u2026<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 12pt; font-family: georgia, palatino, serif;\">Oh I\u2019m sure there are many more serial killers out there, I don\u2019t think it can be downsized to just the USA or Europe \u2026 they are everywhere! \ud83d\ude42<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\"><strong><span class=\"s1\">\u2014There are always a lot of remixes in your EPs, how do you choose an artist to remix you? Any special one you like?<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\"><span class=\"s1\">\u2014<\/span>Often it\u2019s more of a remix exchange with bands or smaller bands asking me whether they can do a remix for me, or me just asking befriended bands to do a remix for me.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 12pt; font-family: georgia, palatino, serif;\">I\u2019d rather have some smaller bands doing remixes for me with passion and devotion, rather than bigger bands asking for money and delivering uninspired remixes.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\"><strong><span class=\"s1\">\u2014You are also a DJ, when is the best time to play a Suicide Commando track during one of your sessions?<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\"><span class=\"s1\">\u2014<\/span>When you want the people to go home\u2026 \ud83d\ude00<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 12pt; font-family: georgia, palatino, serif;\">Haha no seriously, I don\u2019t really like to spin my own songs in my DJ sets, don\u2019t ask me why\u2026 I also don\u2019t consider myself as a real DJ, I have absolutely no DJ-ing skills.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p4\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\"><strong>\u2014You were one of the founders of Dependent Records with Eskil Simonsson (Covenant), Bryan Erickson (Velvet Acid Christ), Ronan Harris (VNV Nation) and Stefan Herwig. How was running a label with such an incredible group of musicians?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"s2\" style=\"font-size: 12pt; font-family: georgia, palatino, serif;\"><span class=\"s1\">\u2014<\/span>We were not actually \u201crunning\u201d the label, that job was for Stefan Herwig only, you could more see us as a signboard or platform for the label, to make it more recognisable for the outer world.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p5\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\"><strong><span class=\"s1\">\u2014Your last release has been <em>Mindstrip Redux<\/em>. Why do you think that these songs needed an update\/new versions?<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-31973\" src=\"https:\/\/elgarajedefrank.es\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/R-15984733-1601444554-6793.jpeg-300x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"450\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https:\/\/elgarajedefrank.es\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/R-15984733-1601444554-6793.jpeg-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/elgarajedefrank.es\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/R-15984733-1601444554-6793.jpeg-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/elgarajedefrank.es\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/R-15984733-1601444554-6793.jpeg-585x585.jpg 585w, https:\/\/elgarajedefrank.es\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/R-15984733-1601444554-6793.jpeg-50x50.jpg 50w, https:\/\/elgarajedefrank.es\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/R-15984733-1601444554-6793.jpeg.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px\" \/><\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\"><span class=\"s1\">\u2014<\/span>At first I only reworked<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span>the\u201cHellraiser\u201d song, but somehow it was so much fun reworking that song, that I also started reworking the \u201cMindstripper\u201d song \u2026 and so the idea came to my mind to rework all the songs from that album. The <em>Mindstrip<\/em> album was exactly 20 years old in 2020, so I thought it could be a cool idea to do a complete make over of that album, also because I was not completely satisfied with the sound quality and recordings of the original version. Did you know that the original <em>Mindstrip<\/em> even was recorded mono? <em>Mindstrip<\/em>\u00a0meant a real mile stone in my career, so I thought it deserved a new re-release.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p5\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt; font-family: georgia, palatino, serif;\"><strong><span class=\"s1\">\u2014<\/span>One of your longest-life project was Lescure 13 as you previously commented, what can you please tell us about it? When did you meet Stefan? Maybe when you recorded the albums with Stin Scatzor?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p5\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt; font-family: georgia, palatino, serif;\"><span class=\"s1\">\u2014<\/span>Actually, that\u2019s a funny story, I met Stefan after placing an ad in a magazine where I was searching for like-minded people who were interested in listening and making electronic music. And so we met, I still remember Stefan stepping out of the train in Leopoldsburg (my home town) with his synth under his arm. \ud83d\ude00<br \/>\nNot much later <strong>Lescure 13<\/strong> was born. With<strong> Lescure 13<\/strong> we wanted to do some more EBM oriented songs, influenced by our mutual love for bands like <strong>Nitzer Ebb<\/strong>\u2026<br \/>\nWhen <strong>Suicide Commando<\/strong> became bigger and bigger, I unfortunately got less and less time to work and concentrate on <strong>Lescure 13<\/strong>, but we never really stopped. We still do concerts from time to time with <strong>Lescure 13<\/strong>, and if we find the time we still hope to work on some new material, but today we more see <strong>Lescure 13<\/strong> as our fun project. There are no rules inside <strong>Lescure 13<\/strong>, we do whatever we want and whenever we want&#8230;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p5\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\"><strong><span class=\"s1\">\u2014What happened with your project Kombat Unit? You released only one track, right?<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p5\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt; font-family: georgia, palatino, serif;\"><span class=\"s1\">\u2014<\/span>Officially we released 2 songs on different compilations, and we had a few more songs in the pipeline, but a bit like with <strong>Lescure 13<\/strong>, I simply did not have enough time to combine all these projects, so I had to make choices. <strong>Suicide Commando<\/strong> is taking so much of my free time, so there\u2019s hardly any time left for other things.<br \/>\nBut same as with <strong>Lescure 13<\/strong>, we never really stopped, so who knows we\u2019ll work on some more songs sometime&#8230;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p5\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\"><strong><span class=\"s1\">\u2014How have you lived the pandemic so far? You managed to play a few concerts, right? How was the experience? I guess it must be kind of weird especially with the style of music that you play.<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\"><span class=\"s1\">\u2014<\/span>It\u2019s been hard, and we\u2019re still in it\u2026 It hasn\u2019t been easy, but I guess it has been a hard year for everyone. And after all I\u2019m lucky I still can make music in my home studio, so I\u2019m trying to stay sane.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 12pt; font-family: georgia, palatino, serif;\">Yes, we were lucky to be able to do 4 shows in Germany in September last year. It was great being on stage again, but indeed it was pretty weird because of the corona restrictions. Depending on where in Germany we played, we had different restrictions, so a few shows were still close to normal conditions, but the weirdest show probably was our show in Frankfurt where we had to play in the afternoon and the audience was not allowed to stand in front of the stage, they all had to sit at table. Now that was pretty weird, but also funny at the same time. It more felt as if we were playing at some bingo evening for elderly people. But nonetheless we were grateful we at least could do these few shows.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p5\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\"><strong><span class=\"s1\">\u2014The last album of original material is from 2017, are you working on anything new?<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p5\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\"><span class=\"s1\">\u2014<\/span>Yes, I\u2019m currently working on new material for a new album which I hope to finish somewhere end of the year. And in between I also released some new songs on the <em>Dein Herz, Meine Gier \/ Bunkerb!tch<\/em> EP. It was released shortly before the <em>Mindstrip Redux<\/em> album.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p5\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\"><strong><span class=\"s1\">\u2014What can we expect of your concert at Darkmad?<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p5\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt; font-family: georgia, palatino, serif;\"><span class=\"s1\">\u2014<\/span>Our hunger for new shows is so big at the moment, so expect an extra motivated band on stage. If I get the new songs finished in time, we probably will present some new material and bring a totally new show.<br \/>\nIt will be so great to be on stage again, so great to finally play in Spain again, so great to hook up with all those other great artists and meet our fans again.<br \/>\nI\u2019m so much looking forward to this one!<br \/>\nSo fingers crossed we\u2019ll meet in October!!!<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Suicide is only the solution when we are talking about Suicide Commando, the legendary Belgian&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":31948,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[667,499,367],"class_list":["post-31912","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interviews","tag-aggrotech-en","tag-dark-electro-en","tag-industrial-music"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Interview: Suicide Commando &#8212; El Garaje de Frank<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Interviews &#8212; Interview with Belgian electro-industrial act Suicide Commando.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/elgarajedefrank.es\/en\/interview-suicide-commando\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Interview: Suicide Commando &#8212; El Garaje de Frank\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Interviews &#8212; Interview with Belgian electro-industrial act Suicide Commando.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/elgarajedefrank.es\/en\/interview-suicide-commando\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"El Garaje de Frank\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/elgarajedefrank\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/elgarajedefrank\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-05-13T08:40:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-05-29T11:21:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/elgarajedefrank.es\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/EHMUE1858.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1237\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1512\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Fran\u00e7ois Zappa\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Fran\u00e7ois Zappa\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"15 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/elgarajedefrank.es\\\/en\\\/interview-suicide-commando\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/elgarajedefrank.es\\\/en\\\/interview-suicide-commando\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Fran\u00e7ois Zappa\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/elgarajedefrank.es\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/d709c9c33f5f405d44c6c9397889ba15\"},\"headline\":\"Interview: Suicide Commando\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-05-13T08:40:10+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-05-29T11:21:12+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/elgarajedefrank.es\\\/en\\\/interview-suicide-commando\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":2782,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/elgarajedefrank.es\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/d709c9c33f5f405d44c6c9397889ba15\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/elgarajedefrank.es\\\/en\\\/interview-suicide-commando\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/elgarajedefrank.es\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/05\\\/EHMUE1858.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Aggrotech\",\"Dark electro\",\"Industrial\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Interviews\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/elgarajedefrank.es\\\/en\\\/interview-suicide-commando\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/elgarajedefrank.es\\\/en\\\/interview-suicide-commando\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/elgarajedefrank.es\\\/en\\\/interview-suicide-commando\\\/\",\"name\":\"Interview: Suicide Commando &#8212; El Garaje de Frank\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/elgarajedefrank.es\\\/en\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/elgarajedefrank.es\\\/en\\\/interview-suicide-commando\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/elgarajedefrank.es\\\/en\\\/interview-suicide-commando\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/elgarajedefrank.es\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/05\\\/EHMUE1858.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-05-13T08:40:10+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-05-29T11:21:12+00:00\",\"description\":\"Interviews &#8212; Interview with Belgian electro-industrial act Suicide Commando.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/elgarajedefrank.es\\\/en\\\/interview-suicide-commando\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/elgarajedefrank.es\\\/en\\\/interview-suicide-commando\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/elgarajedefrank.es\\\/en\\\/interview-suicide-commando\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/elgarajedefrank.es\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/05\\\/EHMUE1858.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/elgarajedefrank.es\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/05\\\/EHMUE1858.jpg\",\"width\":1237,\"height\":1512},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/elgarajedefrank.es\\\/en\\\/interview-suicide-commando\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Inicio\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/elgarajedefrank.es\\\/en\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Interviews\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/elgarajedefrank.es\\\/en\\\/category\\\/interviews\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Interview: Suicide Commando\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/elgarajedefrank.es\\\/en\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/elgarajedefrank.es\\\/en\\\/\",\"name\":\"El Garaje de Frank\",\"description\":\"Music magazine\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/elgarajedefrank.es\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/d709c9c33f5f405d44c6c9397889ba15\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/elgarajedefrank.es\\\/en\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":[\"Person\",\"Organization\"],\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/elgarajedefrank.es\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/d709c9c33f5f405d44c6c9397889ba15\",\"name\":\"Fran\u00e7ois Zappa\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/elgarajedefrank.es\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/10\\\/IMG_8278-150x150.jpg\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/elgarajedefrank.es\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/10\\\/IMG_8278-150x150.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/elgarajedefrank.es\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/10\\\/IMG_8278-150x150.jpg\",\"caption\":\"Fran\u00e7ois Zappa\"},\"logo\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/elgarajedefrank.es\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/10\\\/IMG_8278-150x150.jpg\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/elgarajedefrank\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.instagram.com\\\/elgarajedefrank\\\/\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Interview: Suicide Commando &#8212; El Garaje de Frank","description":"Interviews &#8212; Interview with Belgian electro-industrial act Suicide Commando.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/elgarajedefrank.es\/en\/interview-suicide-commando\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Interview: Suicide Commando &#8212; El Garaje de Frank","og_description":"Interviews &#8212; Interview with Belgian electro-industrial act Suicide Commando.","og_url":"https:\/\/elgarajedefrank.es\/en\/interview-suicide-commando\/","og_site_name":"El Garaje de Frank","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/elgarajedefrank\/","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/elgarajedefrank\/","article_published_time":"2021-05-13T08:40:10+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-05-29T11:21:12+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1237,"height":1512,"url":"https:\/\/elgarajedefrank.es\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/EHMUE1858.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Fran\u00e7ois Zappa","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Fran\u00e7ois Zappa","Est. reading time":"15 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/elgarajedefrank.es\/en\/interview-suicide-commando\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/elgarajedefrank.es\/en\/interview-suicide-commando\/"},"author":{"name":"Fran\u00e7ois Zappa","@id":"https:\/\/elgarajedefrank.es\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/d709c9c33f5f405d44c6c9397889ba15"},"headline":"Interview: Suicide Commando","datePublished":"2021-05-13T08:40:10+00:00","dateModified":"2024-05-29T11:21:12+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/elgarajedefrank.es\/en\/interview-suicide-commando\/"},"wordCount":2782,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/elgarajedefrank.es\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/d709c9c33f5f405d44c6c9397889ba15"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/elgarajedefrank.es\/en\/interview-suicide-commando\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/elgarajedefrank.es\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/EHMUE1858.jpg","keywords":["Aggrotech","Dark electro","Industrial"],"articleSection":["Interviews"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/elgarajedefrank.es\/en\/interview-suicide-commando\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/elgarajedefrank.es\/en\/interview-suicide-commando\/","url":"https:\/\/elgarajedefrank.es\/en\/interview-suicide-commando\/","name":"Interview: Suicide Commando &#8212; El Garaje de Frank","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/elgarajedefrank.es\/en\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/elgarajedefrank.es\/en\/interview-suicide-commando\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/elgarajedefrank.es\/en\/interview-suicide-commando\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/elgarajedefrank.es\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/EHMUE1858.jpg","datePublished":"2021-05-13T08:40:10+00:00","dateModified":"2024-05-29T11:21:12+00:00","description":"Interviews &#8212; Interview with Belgian electro-industrial act Suicide Commando.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/elgarajedefrank.es\/en\/interview-suicide-commando\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/elgarajedefrank.es\/en\/interview-suicide-commando\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/elgarajedefrank.es\/en\/interview-suicide-commando\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/elgarajedefrank.es\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/EHMUE1858.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/elgarajedefrank.es\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/EHMUE1858.jpg","width":1237,"height":1512},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/elgarajedefrank.es\/en\/interview-suicide-commando\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Inicio","item":"https:\/\/elgarajedefrank.es\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Interviews","item":"https:\/\/elgarajedefrank.es\/en\/category\/interviews\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Interview: Suicide Commando"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/elgarajedefrank.es\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/elgarajedefrank.es\/en\/","name":"El Garaje de Frank","description":"Music magazine","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/elgarajedefrank.es\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/d709c9c33f5f405d44c6c9397889ba15"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/elgarajedefrank.es\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":["Person","Organization"],"@id":"https:\/\/elgarajedefrank.es\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/d709c9c33f5f405d44c6c9397889ba15","name":"Fran\u00e7ois Zappa","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/elgarajedefrank.es\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/IMG_8278-150x150.jpg","url":"https:\/\/elgarajedefrank.es\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/IMG_8278-150x150.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/elgarajedefrank.es\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/IMG_8278-150x150.jpg","caption":"Fran\u00e7ois Zappa"},"logo":{"@id":"https:\/\/elgarajedefrank.es\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/IMG_8278-150x150.jpg"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/elgarajedefrank\/","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/elgarajedefrank\/"]}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/elgarajedefrank.es\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31912","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/elgarajedefrank.es\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/elgarajedefrank.es\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elgarajedefrank.es\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elgarajedefrank.es\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31912"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/elgarajedefrank.es\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31912\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":62549,"href":"https:\/\/elgarajedefrank.es\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31912\/revisions\/62549"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elgarajedefrank.es\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31948"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/elgarajedefrank.es\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31912"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elgarajedefrank.es\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31912"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elgarajedefrank.es\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31912"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}