SL. Could you please describe us your music and do you think it’s just some kind of EBM?

V. Basically, I think the EBM is only a definition, it’s just a "label". An increasing amount of bands have their own unique definition of their sound and music. Thorsten and I always tried to create a mixture of a slightly harder version of synth pop and aggressive distorted vocals and l’d say that we succeeded in just doing this.

SL. Your music sounds very cold, especially your strings, but this is also related to your lyrics, etc. Could you tell us a bit more about this dark side?

V. Our strings sound cold? Please then send your complaints to Korg since the name of the sound in our synth is called "warm string"!!! Aaahh!! I guess with "cold" you mean the way we play the strings. It’s a typical style in dark electro music to play in a dark and tragic way. But with our latest cds Organies, we have blown away such cliché images. Our aim is to sound a little more friendly than most of the other bands. And you’II hear this on our new album!!

SL. The covers of your three first releases are dark too. What do they exactly represent and is there a certain link with the tackled subjects in your lyrics?

V. The main reason (or choosing these covers was that they are eye-catchers. On Morbid Mind, some of the lyrics are directly associated with the cover. The lyrics all deal with sick thoughts and actions. Human Refuse is about man’s future, which might be endangered by a third world war, a nuclear catastrophe, or drugs...

SL. How did you get in contact with Hypnobeat and could you give us some details of their work and your collabora- tion with them?

V. Rs I told you, in the winter of 1992 we started to send our first demo to various labels and the following January, a label unknown to us got in touch with us. Amongst others, we had indeed sent a demo to Hypnobeat and on the fax we received it said Hyperium and since we didn’t know at all they were linked we were quite surprised to receive their response! After having solved this "mystery" we immediately started working on Human Refuse. Since then we have never had any problem with Hypnobeat and working with them still proves to be very fruitful. Once we’ve finished new tracks, we get in touch with the label and discuss the most suitable release date for the cd and the right format for it. Sometimes, this doesn’t work too well, as currently happening with our new XIC Implant. However we hope that waiting for it won’t eventually prove to be a waste of time.

SL. Personally I think your music is more suited to a typical EBM label like Zoth Ommog! So, what do you think about it and did you get others possibilities to be signed?

V. When we signed with Hypnobeat, we didn’t know about PROJECT PITCHFORK having left. Since PITCHFORK was ’THEEeee" band for us, thus Hypnobeat had to be "THEEeee" label! Meanwhile, our personal favourites have changed. But so far, apart from a few minor prob- lems, we’ve got along rather well with Hypnobeat, there- fore there hasn’t been necessary to look out for a different label.

SL. Except your first album, the other releases were recorded at Sevren-Ni-Arb’s TGIF studio. Did you choose this for the studio and its possibilities or was it just to work with Sevren-Ni-Arb’!

V. We decided to record in Sevren’s studio basically because it was much more affordable than the one we used before. Another thing is that Sevren has gathered a lot of experience with this kind of music, especially com- pared to our first producer. Until we arrived at the studio, we didn’t even know that Sevren was the owner, we just also knew that X MARKS THE PEDWALK also recorded in that studio (it all sounds so innocent!! Ed.). So, when we arrived, we had a sort of really positive surprise (Ave Maria! Ed.) and working with Sevren in his studio interesting, but also funny and relaxed affair.

from him, you will now integrate into your music?

V. As already said, our mutual work was not planned at all. Pure chance brought us together! Sevren basically mixed our tracks. While the music was entirely our own work. The only thing we learnt from him was how to handle sheep since there was a huge meadow with sheep right in front of the studio...

SL. I think your music is in the same line as old XMTP! What do you think about it and which are your musical influences by the way?

V. Since we’ve both been XMTP fans from the very first release on, it could indeed be possible that our music vaguely resembles theirs, however, we do think that we have developed our own style and that by now we are as well established than he is! Our influences are mainly inspired by Canadian and Belgian (Hmmm!! Ed.) industrial music. The first bands we came in contact with were SKINNY PUPPY and FRONT 242. You can although had to our range of influences synth pop bands like CAMOUFLAGE, ERASURE, etc. I told you, we always tried to combine synth pop with EBM...

SL. Some critics reproach bands working with Sevren-Ni- Art's, to sound like XMTP!!! What’s your meaning about this point and could you compare your music with XMTP?

V. l’m positive in the sense that Sevren only mixed us and had no single influence on our music. I cannot judge whether he had some influence on other bands’ releases, but Sevren has definitely a distinct way of mixing which a lot of listeners can recognize. I suppose it’s because of this people think he influenced the composition side of the production??!

SL. You already released 4 productions in two years... Quite productive I think! Where do you find all this energy?

V. We love writing music! And if the environment is perfect, everything goes without a hitch! But you know, there are also days when simply nothing works out the way it should be...

SL. Your last maxi contains two new songs, much more "commercial" I dare to say. 1s it just an evolution and could you describe us the new direction you plan to take

V. Of course!! We try to undergo some kind of evolution, development... There’s no reason to do the same thing over and over again! I don’t really know whether we grew more commercial or not, but that’s a fact that you can hear a difference compared to the previous releases.

SL. You also put 3 live-tracks on the maxi. Why did you want to record live-tracks and is there a particularly reason, you chose these songs’.

V. We love recording our gigs whenever possible. And we decided to use some of them cos they represent a lot of fun for us and are also our highlights for us!!!

SL. Could you describe us your next album and when will it be released?

V. Well, it should be out in September hopefully. It will include everything from quite strings to aggressive distorted vocals... Just wait and you’II hear it!!! I won’t say too much about it.

SL. What’s the most evil-ish toy you ever played with according to you in your life?