This "interview" was conducted with Pieter of The Peoples Republic of Europe on 04-Aug-2010 Thanks Pieter
we are happy to get the chance to ask you a few questions For the first question will be Thanks Pieter that you have found time to give answers to these questions,
Could you briefly summarize The Peoples Republic of Europe and what you guys are about?
We are a band which makes industrial with a lot of influences from stuff like funk, disco, techno, and lots of other styles. The reason for this is that i like a lot of different kinds of music, and therefor my influences go all over the place. I do like my beats harsch, gritty and industrial, which is my main love of music, so that will always remain the core of tPROE. Furthermore we plan on promoting nihilist and discordianist views, because we believe people who believe in god or ideals are really silly, and we throw in a dose of unhealthy humor from time to time. In general we try to be the most vile, harsh, evil and loudest disco-funk band of the universe. Apart from me we have had different lineups, but lately we have a very stable live lineup with me together with Puck for live noise en percussion, and Steef from Statik Sky for visuals and propaganda.
- what noise do you make in The Peoples Republic of Europe?
I make all the noise. Basically mixing up distorted beats, distorted sounds, distorted melodies, distorted vocals. I just distort everything.
- How's the start of 2010 been for you thus far?
Very easy. I am working on a relaxed pace on the upcoming harsch industrial tPROE album "Machine district" on which i still have some work to do on tracks. I also did a remix for Doomer, one for Monokino, and am currently working on one for Zwarte Poezie. I am also finished with a darkambient tPROE album called "Cumulonimbus III" which is not dance-oriented, but more like stuff made by Boyd Rice and Lustmord. Currently i am looking for a label to have it released.
- Other incoming projects?
Yes, i am also playing bassguitar in the new wave band Fertile Reality. Within about two months we will release our 4th album which we recorded professionally at the next-to-jaap studio's and had it mastered by Zlaya who has done work for The Gathering, Sonic Youth, Sparklehorse and the Ex to name a few. I also have another project called "Higgs Foton" with which i release quirky electronic music somewhere between easy listening, IDM, bossa nova and experimental electronics.
- If people don't know what you and your music are about where have they been!?,how would you describe yourself?
I just say we are the loudest and most evil and agressive funk band in the world. But i also use descriptions like gabber at a slower pace, or hard distorted techno.
- If you could play a show anywhere in the world where would it be?
I would love to play Japan. But it doesn't matter really. I like to travel, and seeing places has its own reward. We play everywhere where they ask us. As long as our flights are booked, and food and lodgings are ok, we come and do shows.
- What day jobs did you guys have while you were putting the band together?
I was working at a laboratory in those days. I had to wear gasmasks for real. How's that for being industrial! Nowadays i work at a big bank doing mortgages so i have become corporate evil, which is also very industrial.
- Back to your roots, how did you first come to music?
I was always a music lover since childhood, and i always wanted to play in a band. When i was around 16 i started a noise-punk band, and played some live shows with it, and recorded demo's. I also made experimental and industrial music in those days with very primitive equipment like taperecordes, metal percussion and analogue synths. From there on i just keep forming bands and doing music.
- When did you form The Peoples Republic of Europe?
On the 4th of June 2000 i made some experimental darkambient/noise tracks, and used the name "The peoples republic of europe" for it. I already had the name form an old episode of Mission Impossible, and planned on using it for an EBM band, but decided to use it for this. Little did i know where it would lead....
- What are your top ten favorite Club Songs of all time?
Probably:
Speedy J - Pullover
Final Exposure - Vortex
Converter/asche/morgenstern - monster
Imminent starvation - tentack one
Iszoloscope - 28c and falling
Cybersonik - Jackhammer
Polygon Window - Quoth
LL Cool J - Mommy said knock you out
Bad Company - Fear
Nitzer Ebb - Murderous
- Do you keep up with how the record has been selling? Is that really important to you?
Not really. It also is very skewed these days with all the illegal downloads going on. It has become very hard to see how you do impactwise. We do attracts good crowds when we play live, and sell a lot on the merch table. That i do keep up, because i have to for taxes and stuff. It is not really important for me personally, but i like it to be as much as possible, because more sales, means more budget for stuff like good studio's, highend mastering, good artwork and good logistics on shows and tours. That is very important for a band.
- Who is your favorite band at the moment?
Lately i have been listening a lot to dubstep. In that genre i really like stuff like Skream, Burial, 2562, headhunter and so on. I am also very fond of the debute album of Major Lazer which is dancehall/reggae. O.Children from the UK is a modern gothrock band i like very much, and i also like the new Heimstatt Yipotash album a lot because its very funky Industrial with a strong old skool Skinny Puppy vibe. Puck likes that one a lot too. The new SAM albums is also good disco-industrial, so lots of nice stuff.
- What band or bands would you like to tour with and why?
It doesn't really matter as long as they are nice guys/gals. Our US tour we did with Hocico, and that was good fun. It's important that the bands can get along reasonably well. Touring is very stressfull, so its important to keep the spirits up as much as possible.
- Is touring a pleasure or a necessary evil?
Both actually. I like to tour because i like to travel and see places, but it's also pretty hard and rough because you need to work pretty hard. Travel, setup stuff, do show, get everything off, and then there is the stress of things going wrong. It's a hard life, but also a very fun life. Basically you are on an adventure, and while at some moments you might suffer, you always bring back great stories to bore your grandchildren with in later life!
- How did you come up with the title "Babylon" (The Peoples Republic of Europe latest CD)
While working on the first tracks, i was reading into American conservative christianity and the absurd things these people believe in, like the rapture (people dissapearing at once, because they are taking up in heaven after which the apocalypse come for those "left behind") and speaking in tongues. In spiritual notions Babylon represents science, freedom, reason, and is the exact opposite of religion which represents repression, obiedience and submission. The album celebrates the concept of Babylon and is meant to empasize that science and reason should be the basis for humanity and not stupid herd-philosophies like religions.
- All right. You guys toured heavily after "Babylon" came out. How did the whole touring, to support that record, turn out?
We did fine. We did a tour of the NL together with NG-Pro, XMH and Ravage ravage which did good, as shows in England and Germany. We also did a short US tour together with Hocico and Hardwire which also went great. It was the first time we did tour the US, and apart from Puck we never have been there, so that was quite the adventure. All in all we are really satisfied with it, and we hope we can do more tours in the future.
- How do you feel to hold the finished cd in your hands?
To me it's very strange, because usually i am already busy with the next when the last one is finally pressed, so it doesn't impress me that much. I also released quite some CD's and that feeling tends to wear of a little bit. Though in the case of "Babylon" it was special, because i was in Denver when i first got my copies, so being on US soil for a few hours, and holding the new album is very special. Denver is the main base for our label "Vendetta music", so that was a bit special for me, going there for a show on the Vendetta fest and subsequent tour and getting the album for the first time.
- What are you currently listening to on your mp3 player? What artists have you been listening to these days?
I do not have a MP3 player, but proper turntables and CD players. Right now i am listening to the "Three hours" album by Triori. A very fine neofolk/martial industrial album, i would like to recommend to everyone. I also have the new SAM, Hocico, Von Thronstahl, Heimstatt hypotash, Richie Spice, O.Children and several dubstep compilation albums lying around the music corner.
- Do you spend a lot of time on remixing other artists tracks or is it something you do when you have some time over?
Not really that much. I do remixes though, but i feel it's important the material should make it possible to add something. In general i tend to prefer doing remixes for bands outside the industrial scene. Because that is a true challenge. Remixing an other industrial band to me does not add value to the original. Doing it for other genres does. In the past i did remixes for bands like Annatar, Silence is Sexy, Monokino, Unit 187 and am now working on one for Zwarte poezie. It is a lot harder to make it work this way, but for me it is much more rewarding. I also like to make something different. I once made traditional disco remixes of songs from Unter null and Agonoize because i like to do that. If the song is already angry i like to give it a different mood for instance.
- Is your family pretty impressed with what you've done?
I don't know really. My mother likes my stuff. Thats what she says anyway. My brother only likes the darkambient pieces. I do not know about the rest. I think they are busy with their own lives, and thats ok with me.
- Have you recorded any previous cd`s or posted any audio files on the Internet? what type of recording process did you use? who produced your recording?
In the past i already released 4 tproe CD's myself, and 5 demo CDr albums before that. On Vendetta music i also already released an album before Babylon called Singularity. I also release CDr stuff in limited editions myself, like the "Mixtape USA" album, and now the upcoming EP "Anger management". As for recording: I use Cubase for sequencing and mixing. I use softsynths exclusively because i find hardware too bothersome for me. I need to have total control over the machinery so hardware doesn't work for me. tPROE records are produced by me. I would like to work with an established producer on material, but that is very expensive. The mastering though, is done professionally nowadays. We have already used X-Fusion and Metarc for that, and the latest EP has been done by Mike Wells of Gridlock fame.
- What are your views on the current state of this harsch industrial/powernoise/teknoid industrial scene in The Netherlands.in terms of creativity and audiences? And the scene in other countries?
I think the NL could do with more bands and a bigger scene. Nowadays only we and Mono Amine are releasing stuff and The Chaos Industry from the north is also active. We could add Statik Sky to that, but he is more electro-industrial. In the past we had more good bands like HERAS and Yrrwe Zsuwyrrwe. But those have gone inactive. There were more like Distsync and Doow who were promising, but i don;t hear anything from them anymore musicwise. The audience is great though. There is a lot of interest for harsch industrial music. As for scene's in other countries: Germany, England and the USA have great scenes, and great audiences.
- What new music inspires you when you are writing? How does your music creation process work? How do you create a song?
I create songs more or less out of the blind. I start out by making beatloops on drummachines and software sequencers, and experiment with them by distorting them, and using various fx. If i have a good groove which i like i use that a a basis the build the song. The groove is the most important part of the music. If the groove is good, you are already halfway. Furthermore it's just adding loops, sounds and noises to build a logical sonic path through time. A lot of trail and error and closely listening if the song keeps working.
- How did you sell your CD’s/Audio Files? (Consignment? Live sales? My space, iTunes,Distributor?)
Mostly through distribution and online shops. Also when we play live, and the albums are also digitaly available through several retailers among which Itunes. If all goes well we hope to add beatport to that, which is a very important portal into the techno scene. I would like to see if that sparkles some interest from that scene.
- Do you see the Internet as a benefit for bands like The Peoples Republic of Europe ? Does the growing possibility of someone downloading your material, rather than buying it, worry you?
I do not think the internet is a benefit for most bands. It is nice to have information available, but i have noticed that the internet does not work for bands. The problem is that there are too much bands around and those are all active there vying for the attention of a less and less interested audience. The best way for us to get promoted is clubplay by DJ's and playing liveshows. I have always noticed plays and visits on the myspace and last.fm going up when we do stuff like that. I got a lot of friend invites when we did the US tour, and when i was selfreleasing stuff i always could notice when the promotional copies i sent out to Franck from Das Bunker have reached LA. In the recent month i noticed something similar with the Ext!ze parody "Gothic ass" i made. That song now gets quite heavy clubplay, and i seen the amount of visits skyrocket.As for downloading its quite simple: I absolutely am against downloading, and i consider people who only download the music without buying not as fans. I am seeing around me what this does to bands and artists, and i know people who lost jobs through this, and bands who quit, and i have to say it is really demotivating for me as well. I doubt if there is a solution for this. Maybe the ACTA legislation will help when it can be implemented as they want to, but i wouldn't be suprised if 20 years from now the period 1960-2010 will be known as "The golden age of music" and only things available in 2030 are extremely commercial music aimed at selling merch, or amateuristic myspace bands.All in all i think it is better for bands if the internet would dissappear. But that is not going to happen. Anyway: if people are a fan of the band or artist: go out and BUY the CD, digital download or vinyl. It gets them money in their pocket which they can invest in better equipment, good studio's or better promotion. The band gets better, makes better sounding releases, and so on. If people do not do that, the band does not get better and might even quit because there is no point in making music anymore, and the people are down one favorite band.
- How do you see the future of download / Copyright in area of goth-Techno / Dub / harsch industrial/powernoise/teknoid industrial music ? What are the best ways to develop it in your mind ?
The only way to develop it is by forcing the internet service providers to actively monitor the contents of downloads and streams, and have the customers pay the appropriate mechanicals and royalties. There are models for this proposed, but the ISP's keep refusing them. To solve this problem we need laws to force them into accepting them. Other than that there is no future.
- What about all the big festivals? Summer Darkness in the netherlands? Mera Luna in Germany Familientreffen in Germany and Wave Gothic Treffen in Germany and many more?
We only did a few festivals. We did Summer Darkness two times, and last year we did Vendetta fest in Denver, USA. We would love to play other festivals. We go there as visitors and we love them a lot. We would really like to play the WGT, so we hope we get booked there!
- Please let us know about your upcoming plans, some new releases you like to confirm here
Soon we will release a new EP called "Anger management" which will be a digital release on Vendetta music with a very limited CDR release on New Darkness Recordings (that is my own label). Later there will be a new album called "machine district" on Vendetta music and if all goes well a darkambient/drone album called "Cumulonimbus III".
- Where would you like to see The Peoples Republic of Europe three years from now?
Bigger, better, bolder. I am keen on having the band grow, and getting bigger. So i hope in three years we will be bigger, doing more tours, and releasing even better albums filled with industrial disco-funk.
- What's the band's favorite song to play live?
The cover version of the Donkey Rollers classic "Strike again" always is a favorite, as is "Love and joy".
- What was it like the first time you heard one of your songs on the radio ore internet ore clubs? who was the DJ that played your song?
I never listen to the radio, so i miss out on that. In the clubs the first song was "Zerstorers" from the third demo "Steel and honour" and XXX was playing it. I thought it was a rather peculiar choice because it is not exactly a dancy song, so i mostly amazed me someone dared to play it. I have heard my tracks in clubs many times, and i always find it a bit awkward to hear them there. I also have a very bad memory, and it happened to me once a DJ was playing a song of which i thought: "This sounds like something i could have written" and it turned out to be one of my songs! Thats what happens when your memory is bad!
- And, finally, what does the next twelve months hold for the band?
Finishing of the new album, and we have two live shows coming up. One in Slimelight , London on the 21st of August, and we play De Helling in Utrecht on the 30th of october. After the new album is released we will be planning a tour and lots of other stuff, but now we take it easy for a while.
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