Alec Empire - Interview

 

"I'd love to write an opera, or a long music piece based on Homer's „Odyssey".

 

It seems that the light stroke I suffered out of happiness when I heard about Nine Inch Nails show in Athens wasn't quite enough to "kill" me, but Alec Empire's addition in the line-up, as the most delicious icing on the cake, almost did.  The prolific Alec Empire hasn't ever stopped transforming as an artist, like a singular chameleon who consorts with the needs of each different period, not in order to hide in the background but to quietly get close to us and scream his message in our ear. And even though I was left speechless when I found out that he - finally! - comes to Greece, I can't say the same thing about him. In this exclusive interview to Postwave.gr, Alec Empire talks about everything: from Trent, Rammstein and Patrick Wolf to the music industry, the evilness of Pirate Bay and humanity's future. He surely did not miss to talk about the special show he is preparing for Greece, his career from its beginning till now and, of course, the "battle" versus Elvis Presley...

 

 

 

 

 

You are known as: Alec Empire, DJ Mowgly, Nintendo Teenage Robots, Jaguar, LX Empire and many many others (I personally prefer Naomi Campbell as a nick). What's the importance of all these alter egos to Alexander Wilke-Steinhof?

Alec: oh these are really from the times when I started putting out records from way back in my career. We're talking early 90ties here. I was still going to school and was producing a lot of DJ records. Because I released so many 12 inches per month, I had to come up with new project names to not cause confusion with the distributors and record shops. And of course it was quite fun to quickly invent weird and strange, sometimes funny characters. Back then not many people did that. It was the peak of independent music, we sold a lot of records, we were able to produce very fast and cheap, so the Major labels had a hard time understanding and competing with this movement. That was what excited me the most. I remember going to a big rave where DJ Rush from Chicago played and he played a record, the crowd went absolutely insane, and I asked him what it was, he showed me the vinyl, it was a record I produced!!! At that point I knew it was getting too crazy hahaha...then I focussed mostly on the Alec Empire and Atari Teenage Riot projects.

 

You have been giving shows all around the world but it's your first time in Greece. Why did it take you so long? What is the feedback that you receive from Greece?

Alec: That is a very good question. We had been in touch with many fans from Greece since we started and there were requests every once in a while, but somehow it never happened! Trent said I have to play Athens, and I should make it a special show, so I will do a performance which I have never done before: The Destroyer/ Generation Star Wars. These are two albums which I have reworked for this concert.I am really excited about this. But of course we have to return with the full band as soon as we can.

 

You hadn't been playing any of ATR stuff since Carl died. But recently, so many years after, this has changed. Can you prepare us for the setlist in Athens and could you also give us some details about the lineup of your show?

Alec: As I mentioned above in Athens I am doing a very special show, so it's different, but at this moment the line up is Nic Endo and me. She has a tower full of machines which is taller than her! And I am on guitars. We are playing songs from every phase of my career. „Revolution Action", „Destroy 2000 Years of Culture", „No Remorse" from ATR and more...but also the latest music from „Shivers" and „Golden Foretaste of Heaven" or the harder tracks from „Futurist" or „Intelligence & Sacrifice". We get amazing feedback for this show all over Europe so far. All the music works really well together when played live. I really love the way Nic and me have worked out my guitar parts, because, on some tracks we use the original samples that we did create back in the day, because the riffs sound harsher and less „human", and I am playing sounds on the guitar with Ring Modulators and other effects which make it sound like a synth...It's all very non-traditional and that's why it's exciting to play. We should definitely return to Greece and present this as well!

 

I can't think of a more suitable opening act for a NIN show than one in which Alec Empire is involved. Trent has publically praised you many times in the past. What do you think of him? When did you first meet?

Alec: Trent has really helped me by mentioning my work to the media and his fans. I think it is fantastic that he is such a music enthusiast. This is quite rare, I have met many famous artists, have worked with many over the years, and it always shocked me that the higher up people climb the ladder of success, the less they seem to care about the music. Not with Trent. He wants to educate his fans, he challenges them. I think this sets him apart from all the others. Of course his approach to sound, the atmospheres he is creating while still keeping a rock structure that so many people are able to understand, is amazing. And I really respect that. Also he is one of the few artists these days who cares about the future of music, all the others just think about how they can maximize profits in the now...which has created a really bad environment for music in my opinion. On his level Trent is working against that, and that is very difficult to do in the society we live in.

 

Given that your releases are characterized by a wide range of diversity, could you please choose one word to describe each of your studio albums?

Alec:
Limited Editions 1990-94 - inspired by Gilles Deleuze „Mille Plateaux", leaving the techno scene
The Destroyer - birth of breakcore and digital hardcore
Low On Ice - Freeze to death, slowely
Hypermodern Jazz - digital Sun Ra
Les Etoiles des Filles Mortes - digital musique concrete
Miss Black America - rare limited edition album, No Wave meets noise/hip hop/breaks and dark atmospheres
Alec Empire vs. Elvis Presley (Bootleg on El Turco Loco Records) - who is protected by copyright? The wealthy or the originators?
Intelligence & Sacrifice - Summer 2001, vision of the coming years, September 911 happened, album couldn't be released in the US anymore because of its meaning.
Futurist - the punk and metal side of Alec Empire
The Golden Foretaste of Heaven - New era, back in Berlin, redefining my sound, all analogue 80ties machines

 

Alec Empire vs. Elvis Presley. Who won after all?

Alec: Elvis of course! But I am still here and alive and he isn't...haha...In a way this describes my attitude to a lot of things, it is also my definition of „punk": to start a fight with someone so powerful you know you get crushed...I think this has something cool about it. The record/video was included in MOMA in New York, many critics rated it as the first Mash-Up album, years ahead of all the others. I wanted to open up a discussion about copyright, and how it protects only the powerful in the music industry. Back then not many people understood the statement, but right now we are in the middle of the debate. It will be very interesting to see how we as a society redefine it.

 

The first time I heard Patrick Wolf's Volture, I said "Wait! There is Alec Empire in it! How can this be possible?!". And I still wonder. Can you tell us the background of this collaboration?

Alec: I got a call from Universal Records and they wanted me to produce with Patrick Wolf for his album. So I went to a show of his in Berlin which was one of the best I had seen in a long time. Then I wrote Vultures and send it to him, he liked it a lot and came over to The Hellish Vortex, which is the production company I have started with Nic Endo. We recorded many songs, rough ideas which he then later shaped into his album. I rate him as one of the most talented new artists...there is no doubt about it. When I saw Germany's Rolling Stone magazine voting it number one of the most important albums that month, ahead of Bob Dylan and everything else, it was just amazing.

 

Your recently mini album is titled "Shivers". What makes you shiver and you named it that way?

Alec: I chose that title because it's a reference to the legendary film by Cronenberg. Every track on Shivers is dedicated to a phase in my life as a musician. So it's very diverse. The lead track „Control Drug" is referencing Atari Teenage Riot and Digital Hardcore while not going retro on the style. The track Shivers is summing up some of my recent work for film soundtracks and is also my first piano ballad which I released to the public. Baby Skull is describing the sound that we play at our parties in Berlin, it's a dance track but with very political lyrics. „If You Live Or Die" was recorded with my friend Robbie Furze from the British band The Big Pink, he plays guitars on that. „T.o.t." is dedicated to the beginning of my career when I started out in the acid house scene. The „mini album" is 35 minutes long

 

What is the most unexpected thing Alec Empire could do and surprise us?

Alec: mmh...I will always find something haha...my friends always hate me for that...any time someone generalizes something...like „the best music was made under the influence of drugs" or stupid quotes like that, I would from the top of my head name at least 50 albums which prove that wrong! Same with my music. The album I am working on now has Germans as the theme, viking gods...the whole thing...I find this religion very interesting right now. I'd love to write an opera, or a long music piece based on Homer's „Odyssey".

 

I recently read some statistics showing that neo-nazi movement keeps rising and expanding. Can you think of any explanation for this? Does Nic Endo still hide a baseball bat underneath her equipment table on stage, like in the old ATR days, in order to be prepared for any possible confrontation with skinheads?

Alec: In our times all the old traditions are being questioned, many things are changing. While people like me react with excitement to the challenge, many people are very very scared and bitter because the way they used to think and what they learnt doesn't apply anylonger. No matter what the Neo Nazis try to do , it won't work at the end, because it's part of nature that we evolve, nobody can control everybody at all times 100%. This is one reason why Hitler lost the war. The Neo Nazis remind me of a dying animal which is trying to defend itself. This is the danger of the situation because real people can get hurt and killed by them before they finally go down. We live in a globalized world now. To praise nationalism or national socialism is completely absurd in my opinion. I understand when workers are being driven to that side because they need answers and most mainstream parties don't offer enough solutions right now. The politically left is in the middle of regrouping and coming up with new ideas. But the Neo Nazis don't have any at all when it comes to the economy for example. The „races" will mix, blond, „white" people will disappear slowely, no 4th Reich or Holocaust can stop that, the Neo-Nazis should accept that and just quit. It's a very complex subject...I feel we could talk for hours about it.

 

I read your solidarity comment on Alexis Grigoropoulos' murder. You probably already know the "nights of violence" during December in Greece. In my opinion what started as a genuine teenage riot soon degenerated into some kind of perverted fun for clueless rich teens. What do you think of that? Do you still go out on streets and protest or do you use other methods to convey your message?

Alec: When the political meaning of the riot is lost, it should be stopped by those who started it. When I can I join protests, the number of people always matters, so it's never a waste of time to turn up. I don't seperate between the two. For me it's all part of who I am and what I think. If I feel I have to write a song instead of going to a protest, I follow that instinct, but this can also work the other way round. In a protest you are part of many, and that gives you strength back. Can't have that when you write a song, only much later when it's performed live.

 

Some years ago you questioned Rammstein's sincerity and you were quoted saying that they were famous "for all the wrong reasons". Being an artist with quite extreme political views, how do you cope with the profit oriented cruel music industry? Have you ever either accidentally or in purpose betrayed your beliefs in order to survive?

Alec: I know the guys from Rammstein and at the point when I made that statement, it was because I felt that they played with the fascist imagery drew some of the wrong type of people, people who didn't understand the context and the concept of using these images in pop music culture. I think very shortly after, Rammstein made it clear where they stand politically, and I think it was important that they made that move. Right from the beginning I set the rules for myself where I want to go and where are lines that I don't want to cross. In capitalism everything can generate cashflow, if we like it or not. Any artist you see who denies that is either an amateur or a liar. I made money from making music all my life, this is no secret and I am not ashamed of it because I always managed to keep my integrity. Lately many people assume that music for free means it's honest...I think the quality of music has nothing to do with the amount of money that is being made with it. We have just witnessed Michael Jackson's death and Thriller is one of the best albums ever made, in my opinion there are many other examples. Nick Drake didn't sell a lot of records in his time, now more and more people have understood how important his work was. Pirate Bay making millions with advertizing while providing other peoples creative work without their permission is more evil than any Major label contract. Pirate Bay should change their name into Slaveship or something....If they spread their income from advertizing equally amongst all musicians, they would have my full support. But they don't. The „cruel" music industry doesn't exist, even if artists make the mistake to sign the wrong contract, they still have the chance to win back their rights in court later. We have seen this with a lot of Blues and Jazz artists who were given outrageous record deals in the eary years of the recording industry. Most of theses deals were put straight years later. It is a very complex discussion that most people working outside the music industry can't join because they lack the knowledge and experience. What I don't like at the moment is that not many people want an honest debate about the issue. The conservative music industry is trying to defend an old business model, musicians are too afraid to speak out because of the backlash from the public, and those who download „illegally" behave like Christian fundamentalists in the discussion. Latest statistics have shown that „illegal" downloads only make the most popular artists even more popular, so the democracy and equality promised by the internet has not happened. If we want freedom of expression and high quality music(whatever that might be in the end) we need to wake up and work out a new model together, because nobody has the found the solution yet.

 

Bjork once said that Queen Elizabeth Hall show (back in 1999) was the most intense show she had seen since Public Enemy. It would be interesting to find out what is the most unforgettable and powerful show you had ever been to.

Alec: Or there were many. Sham 69 in Berlin in the mid 80ties, the band tried a come back, played new songs which were more „pop" and the audience stormed the stage, the show was over after 20 minutes...This left an impression on me when I was a kid. I went to a concert of R.L. Burnside in 1998, small show in New York, audience was full of great musicians...Iggy Pop, Jon Spencer and many others...It was probably the best show I have ever seen. I saw Huggy Bear play in front of 10 people in Berlin, also amazing show and band...totally inspired me until this day. I saw Underground Resistance in Berlin at the Tresor Club, must have been early 92 I think, when Jeff Mills was part of it...this was Techno at its peak for me.

 

I hope you will excuse me for my last question, but my best friend made me ask you. In your legendary live footage from 1st May on Berlin, when you got arrested you said "We never die!". Since you are German, why did you say it in English?

Alec: you see, that is a wide spread misunderstanding. I didn't say that, it was someone in the crowd. It was not even in relation to us being arrested. Would have been cool though, if I had screamed something while being put in handcuffs...but it wasn't me...it's not my voice.

 

Interview: Eva Me.

 

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