{"id":32376,"date":"2021-05-31T16:06:22","date_gmt":"2021-05-31T14:06:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/elgarajedefrank.es\/?p=32376"},"modified":"2024-05-29T12:55:51","modified_gmt":"2024-05-29T10:55:51","slug":"interview-jean-marc-lederman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/elgarajedefrank.es\/en\/interview-jean-marc-lederman\/","title":{"rendered":"Interview: Jean-Marc Lederman"},"content":{"rendered":"

The problem with interviewing Jean-Marc Lederman is that, when you are doing the research, you keep finding interesting albums that you should know to write the questions. And when you finally think that you know his career enough, he announces a new album. So you say to yourself: OK, let\u2019s wait and listen to this new material. But when you finally have his latest work, you discover another of his collaboration and start digging again… So, it was been hard, but we managed to finally interview Jean-Marc Lederman, the artist also known as Johnny Toosoon, Patricia Hearst and even as Jimmyjoe Snark III.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"\u2014Like a lot of artists you started in a punk band, called Streets, that released only a song. What did punk mean in your life? Was it only a first way to start making music?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014Actually, Streets<\/strong> was a very famous and active band in the Brussels\u2019 Punk scene. Later on they changed the name to Contingent<\/strong> so it\u2019s a band that had\/has more than a released song.<\/span>
\nPunk was my call to \u201cYou Can Do It!\u201d There was so much creative freedom and it was so much more than what the mainstream saw in Punk: there were bands but also graphic artists and it was liberating to be able to do create without any old references or pre-judgment.<\/span>
\nWell, being totally amateur in an area (music with synthesizer) when pretty much everything was still relatively new Punk told me that I needed to get up and do what I had to do.<\/span>
\nThe inspiration came also from Eno<\/strong>\u2019s first albums (him being a non-classically trained musician) and Kraftwerk<\/strong> cos I could really feel I was in love with synthesizers.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014The first single of your following band, Digital Dance was a cover of Kraftwerk\u2019s \u201cRadioactivity.\u201d When did you start listening to the German band? You said that they were a big influence in your life.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014<\/strong>Yes, I started with Ralf & Florian<\/em> and followed them from then on. I stopped when Bartos and Fl\u00fcr left the band as it wasn\u2019t Kraftwerk<\/strong> any more for me.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014Last year we saw a concert of the tribute band Curtis in which they recreated the now famous Joy Division\u2019s concert at Plan K, Brussels. You were also there with Digital Dance. What are your memories of the gig?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014<\/strong>It was very cold, Ian came into the dressing room and said: I guess this is why they call it \u201cCold Wave\u201d \ud83d\ude42<\/span>
\nI actually drove Ian and Bernard from their hotel to the gig.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014In most of your first bands (Streets, Digital Dance, and later in Kid Montana) you played with Phil Wauquaire and Michel Zylbersztajn. Were you having a similar musical evolution or were they musicians you felt comfortable working with?\"\"<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014<\/strong>Friends, you know.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014Around 1982, you joined Gene Loves Jezebel. How long did you stay with them?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014<\/strong>I think about 6 months but then I left as the twins were arguing all the time and it was wearing me down<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014One year later you were part of The The live band? Was it easy to work with Matt Johnson? At the time Thomas Leer was playing keyboards with him too, right?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014<\/strong>I joined The The<\/strong> for his The Marquee\u2019s residency (4 gigs every Thursday, I think, of a month) and it was early 1982. On stage there were Thomas Leer<\/strong> indeed, Zeke Manyaka, Jim Foetus<\/strong>, Marc Almond<\/strong>, and Richard from Cabaret Voltaire<\/strong> as guests on the first day. I don\u2019t recall who played bass, though.<\/span>
\nMatt was really fun to play with but a bit undisciplined. He\u2019s a very funny guy, always with a practical joke and a good laugh. But he can be extremely serious when it comes to politics.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014Also you toured with Fad Gadget. <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014<\/strong>Yes, early 1980. We were supporting DAF<\/strong> here and there in the UK and some solo dates in Europe<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014How were the concerts of the band? <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014<\/strong>Very chaotic. It was like Iggy Pop<\/strong> with synthesizers. Very noisy too. Gigs weren\u2019t full but you could feel it was going to be big as Frank was amazing live, as you know.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014We are big fans of the music of Frank Tovey and we are really curious about him and his music.\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014<\/strong>He was very quiet offstage. Very, very funny guy, lots of sarcasm.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"\u2014You started your own project Kid Montana in 1981. First, the sound was more electro but later, with the addition of Dudley Kludt, you moved to synth pop. What happened with the band? Why did you split?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014<\/strong>We have never split but The Weathermen<\/strong> started to take most of my time. Plus, let\u2019s be honest, we were doing something that would have been at ease in the UK but for Belgium it was too slick and a little bit \u201cprecious\u201d and \u201ccamp.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014The Weathermen was one of your most famous bands. The music and sense of humor can be compared to those of \u00e0;GRUMH… Did you think EBM was missing a bit of sense of humor or a more pop sensibility?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014<\/strong>Oh gawd, yeah, except \u00e0;GRUMH…<\/strong> they were all just dark and black and doomed and soooo serious. But let\u2019s not forget that, behind the humor, Bruce lyrics were filled with social comments and politics. \u201cPoison,\u201d that people see as a song on a demented groupie, is about pollution (not only ecological pollution but also TV and adverts pollution).<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014How was working with the late Bruce Geduldig? <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014<\/strong>Most of the times funny and interesting. Sometimes complicated as people in bands do fight sometimes, you know.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014Did you like the music of Tuxedomoon?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014<\/strong>Pass.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014A couple of Weathermen songs sounded in Baywatch.<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014<\/em><\/strong>Actually just one I think\u201d You Want It All\u201d from the 1992 Global 851<\/em> album.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014Did it help get more famous? <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014<\/strong>Not more famous but it did come with nice royalties cheques. We ended up on that series thanx to Mute US who pushed our album to Baywatch\u2019s editor I guess. \u201cPoison\u201d made us \u201cfamous\u201d in the industrial music scene, though.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014Did it appear in any of Pamela Anderson running scenes?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014I like to pretend very sexist-like that not many bands have had their music synchronized to Pamela\u2019s boobs but no.<\/span>
\nIt does appear in a salvage scene for quite a long time. Not bad for a song about rabbits \ud83d\ude42<\/span><\/p>\n