Featuring DDDmix / From BAK XIII Interview by Ruud Dreessen aka ebm-industrial.nl Date: Sun, 6 Dec 2009 10:17
Thanks DDDmix that you have found time to give answers to these questions,
1- For the first question will be - do you know the netherland?
Yes of course! We love Netherland,we played there three times and we will be there in january 8 and 9, check it out on
www.myspace.com/bakxiii . We also have our good friends Deadcell from Eindhoven,hi guys! The crowd is always a bit crazy in Netherland and it's always good times there!
2- Do you follow the electronic music scene, do you have any other favourite bands?
Well... Depeche Mode, Front 242, Kraftwerk... and nowadays I follow the electronic scene and I like some stuff... especially in the industrial side, but I think a lot of bands are looking exactly the same with the same sounds and the same attitude... that is pretty boring, I think that scene deserves better music...
3- Greetings DDDmix could you please shortly introduce our readers your music project BAK XIII Please fill also a biographical resume about how,when and where...give us a more background information?
we created BAK XIII in 2001 in Geneva and released our first album "In Cauda Venenum" in 2003... then we released four other albums a best of and a single. Now we are working on our 6th album "Ibi Deficit Orbis" that should be out in March 2010. A single of the new song "We Are Alive" will be out next week. BAK XIII are Baron Von Smock,Tenebras and me. Basically we do a kind of mix of EBM,pop music,new wave and something with guitars...enjoy!
4- How did you start to make Electro / Gothic / Pop punk and what is Electro / Gothic / Pop punk for you?
Electro-Gothic-Pop punk means nothing and is completely stupid... but it happens when you try to explain or to put in a category your music...so the people will know if they should come or not, or what kind of clothes they should choose to come...Or maybe it's a way to say we are doing something strange! Maybe we should just say "It's music my friends!Just music!"
5- What and who are some of your influences in Electro / Gothic / Pop punk ?
So... We just defined that this shit doesn't exists... but I would say Nitzer Ebb/Joy Division/NoFx with a touch of Gary Numan.
6- What are your top ten favorite Electro / Gothic / Pop punk Club Songs of all time? Who are you influenced by? What would you consider your favorite cd's?
My top electro songs are :
1- Depeche Mode/Stripped Highland remix
2- Depeche Mode/Blasphemous Rumours
3- Depeche Mode/Black Celebration
4-Front 242/Headhunter
5-Front 242/Quite Unusual
6-Skinny Puppy/Assimilate
7-DAF/Der Mussolini
8-Frankie Goes To Hollywood/Relax
9-Talk talk/Such A Shame
10-Visage/Fade To Grey
11-Eurythmics/Sweet Dreams
12-Tears For Fears/Mad World
13-Wall Of Woodoo/Mexican Radio
14-The Weathermen/Poison
15-The Young Gods/Envoyé
16-Nitzer Ebb/Let Your Body Learn
17-OMD/Electricity
18-Das Ich/Kain Und Abel
19-Einsturzende Neubauten/Feurio!
20-Berrurier Noir/Manifeste
21-Kraftwerk/Radioactivity
22-Covenant/We Are Alone
23-Absolut Body Control/Figures
24-Coil/Penetralia II
25-FAD Gadget/Collapsing New People
7- Do you have a favourite track and album?
No...impossible.
8- So tell me a bit more about yourself, such as musical? and tell me about your new album "Ibi Deficit Orbi
I am a kind of pianist with a computer who likes to sing in front of people... that's all you need to know. "Ibi Deficit Orbis" will be a strange album I think... we will mix the sadness and the joy, the joy and the despair. We will be very close to pop music, catchy and easy to dance as usual, but with this slight touch of something that sounds weird and too bizarre to be played on mainstream radios. The words will be cruel, and our world will be once again badly criticized... a touch of humour, probably black and cynical. Like an album of Disco remixed by Dead Dj's and played in a mine field.
9- By the way do you like my questions? tell me what you think about it! ;-)
I will survive...
10- What is the main idea, the message you want to leave to people who listens to you? What is your motto?
Resist, refuse, fight if necessary! We are all responsible of what will happen. you are what you listen, stop listening crap! Fuck the fashion and the hype! Reject religions! Reject fascism and racism! my motto is "Fuck You And Dance!"
11- What’s the name of your band? What’s the origin of that name? Have you changed the band’s name before?
BAK XIII means nothing it's just a logo...unless maybe it's the formula of happiness, the forgotten name of God, or the name of a new drug? who gives a fuck? I don't know...
12- tell me about your first album "In Cauda Venenum" where did the concept come from? and whats planned now that your album is finished? or anything else you're working on? Tell me why this title,"In Cauda Venenum" Tell us a few words about the concept of this?
We always use latin phrases for the titles of our albums. I like to use old wisdom and to put it in a contemporary environement. You suddenly realize that things never change. In Cauda Venenum means litteraly the poison is in the tail... it was a formula used at the end of a text...to signifie to the reader something like : Now you got it deep in your ass! or more simply you're fucked...
13- When's the new album coming out?
March 2010...if the gods are with me...
14-How is the current promotional tour going for supporting this album?
the promotional tour has started in 2001 and will finish when I'll die...on stage of course.Small bands like us cannot plan anything... if somebody wants us to play, we come... we have no booker, just friends who help us.
15- What do you think of a modern Electro / Gothic / Pop punk and about Electro / Gothic / Pop punk scene?
The scene is a bit fucked up...Too many people try to reproduce the music they like...but just like ctrl c/ctrl v. They just make up and wear some stupid plastic shirts and nails, talk about bullshit like satanism, deviant sex or even more absurd things and spit a miserable imitation of Suicide Commando or Hocico... that is soooo fucking boring! What's the fucking point? What is the meaning of this crap? I need something more, something that speaks of the world we live in. Something that surprises me. Of course some people are still doing good music...but they are a bit drowned in a huge wave of pure shit and we all know that it's difficult to swim while you're pinching your nose.
16- Our usual question - what is Electro / Gothic / Pop punk for you?
See question 4
17- What was your best live experience so far?
I couldn't say... Every live is an experience in itself. I just would like to say that when you put your hands in the air and 400 people are screaming, you receive a shockwave of love and adrenaline... that is a great feeling!
Unfortunately when I go out of my house to go to work, the people in the street don't have the same reaction...or maybe it's agood thing...
18- Please list the name, age, school, and respective instrument of each band member
Baron Von Smock works with different electronic devices, from playstation to camera and frequently with stuffs that make noises. Tenebras has learned to play guitar on "Guitar Hero" and was surprised to find more than four buttons on his guitar stick, I think now he is ok with this. I used to play piano until I discovered that computers where not only for games, I also discovered that I was able to produce noise with my mouth. I decided also to compose things we could call songs. We are very old and we have forgotten our school years for long.
19-What are your views on the current state of this Electro / Gothic / Pop punk scene in Zwitserland.in terms of creativity and audiences? And the scene in other countries?
The scene is not very huge in Switzerland... Our chance is to be able to play for punks,goths,metalheads or regular people. Our music is quite compatible with different kind of people.When people get the message they are generally pretty happy to be there...except if they are nazi scums, of course. The scene is there everywhere... the scene is just a certain amount of people who like music.
20- you have very nice albums`2003 in cauda venenum,2005 postlucem,2005 morituri te salutant,2006 vae victis,2007 dead again,-CD Maxi,2008 ultima ratio regum 2009 best of BAK XIII .............. tell me about lyrical compositions what you can tell about the done work? How does your music creation process work? How do you create a song?
First I create the music...then I try to find something that makes sense to sing on it. The thems are very diverse, from protest to complete fun, the goal is to say something right but not to bore people. We also try to show that we take ourself not too seriously.
21-What genre of music do you consider your work to be? Who are your major influences?
see questions 4,5 and 6
22-Since the music industry is more open now to purely electronic music has this made things easier for you?
No...absolutely not. Electronic music is here for more than 30 years now... But it used to be hard to create...tons of cables and buttons...Now you open a laptop and you have thousands of sounds... I really like that, but the problem is that everybody thinks he can do some music. So we have a lot of shit on the market, and it's difficult to exist in the middle of all this bands. The main problem is that the labels don't realise the analogy between shit music and hype... so they drown the market with all these dodgy products, they might kill the scene if they continue like this.
23-So what are their main influences as a band at the moment?
I don't understand this question...
24-What is currently inspiring your material as an artist? tell me all about the Electro / Gothic / Pop punk scene of Zwitserland?
The stupidity of humanity, and a tiny touch of hope...
25-Do you think that people from the music press didn't expect you to grow up musically?
What is growing up? Selling more records? Doing better music? We all do what we can the best we can... so do the press.
26-what is the key to making music from BAK XIII and what inspires you to keep growing as a musician?
Rage, determination, a strong will and an illimited ability to drink with people all around the world...
27-How do you see the future of download / Copyright in area of goth-Electro / Gothic / Pop punk music ? What are the best ways to develop it in your mind ?
Download everything! Pirate everything! I don't care... we don't make money with our records and we will probably never do any money this way. We do records to share our music, so if you buy me one I will buy me a drink or a sandwich, thank you! If you want to pirate it...good! Thank you for your interest!
28-If there was one thing you want people to know about your band what would that be?
We are sincere people, we think what we say, some of you will like us the other won't and we are ok with this. We are too old to stress about our haircut or the way we look cool on the photos, but young enough to make you dance all night.
29-Please let us know about your upcoming plans, some new releases you like to confirm here
New single, new album, as much gigs as possible... the usual stuff...
30-It has been a pleasure to interview you on your musical activity,Well,any last words to your ebm-industrial fans?
Clean your ears... there is alot of good things and a lot of crap! Choose well! We love you all! See you soon! thank you!!!Danku well!!!
31-and what is next on Zwitserland agenda?
Nothing...or maybe not...I work too much...
32-thanks for your time! great work on the albums and good luck with everything.any How can fans-to-be gain access to your music? Do you have a website with sample songs or a demo CD?
33-Were you asked to play or did you have to ask for a slot?
It depends... sometimes we beg, sometimes we are asked... that's life!
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