by Daniel Hinds KMFDM has never compromised,
never bowed to trends, and not surprisingly they have a large and very loyal
following after two decades in the scene. With leader Sascha K. (aka
Kap'n K) still at the helm, KMFDM has unleashed its most potent record in
nearly a decade - WWIII. The aptly tilted album bludgeons and slams
like nothing the band has done since Xtort. But the contributions of
Raymond Watts and Lucia Cifarelli really make it a multi-dimensional record
that works perfectly as a whole. The rest of the band (Joolz, Andy,
and Steve) contribute as well and you can really tell this is the most cohesive,
collaborative KMFDM record yet. I was blessed with the chance to talk
to Lucia recently and she was incredibly nice and talkative, so let's jump
right in…
WWIII has a lot of positive energy, a real attitude to it.
Yeah, I mean, take no prisoners, just speak your mind and don't take it all
so seriously. Because it is so serious, what tends to happen is one
of two things. Either people take it so seriously and are like, 'Oh,
all this politicking, blah blah blah.' You know, you have to have an
opinion about something and the only opinion that we have is that everyone
should question authority, no matter what form that comes in. People
should ask themselves, 'What can I do to make a difference?' We tried
to get that point home, keeping with as much humor as we all have because
we all have pretty sick senses of humor, and that permeates our lives through
all the seriousness of the world.
KMFDM has always had that mix of social
commentary and dark humor - is it difficult to avoid just falling into the
same apathetic state that many others with all the crap going on these days?
For me personally, I'm the only American in the band, and if anything, I've
been guilty of being apathetic in my life. There have been times when
I didn't vote because I thought, 'What's one vote going to mean?' Being
an American, living in this country and growing up in this country, we tend
just say, well, that's the way our country is, and not really take into consideration
that we're a small part of the world and our actions are affecting a huge
chunk of the world. Because we're the richest country, we're loathed
and loved at the same time. A lot of Europeans look up to us for numerous
reasons and frown upon us for others. It's this love/hate relationship
that America is fortunate to have because a lot of countries don't have as
much clout as we do. Being an American, you kind of think, 'Well, we're
America!' and we're really proud and that's good. I even see it with
my own family, if I try to talk about certain things with my father for instance.
He's an American and he's like, 'Hey, this is our country and we've got to
do what we've got to do.' And this is someone who has not traveled
extensively in Europe and hasn't been exposed to other cultures to the extent
that I have as a result of being in a band and traveling and being involved
with a foreigner and just seeing a lot of the world. My eyes have kind
of opened up a little bit and I've said, 'Hey, yeah, I've got to vote and
I've got to have an opinion,' and more with this administration that a lot
of others. It's just really hit me hard and specifically on the song
"Last Things," I was writing for anyone who has been apathetic in their life
but I was obviously using myself as a reference. That song is about
the end of the world and you're standing there, getting ready to go, and
you think, 'Hey, did I speak my mind? Did I do anything to make a difference?'
I'm not the most well-versed political person out there to have an in-depth
conversation with, but I'm valuable just the same because I vote in this
country and I’m a direct example what an American is. When I go to
Europe, I've got to talk to people about what it's like to be an American
and how I feel about my country. I'm very proud of my country and proud
of who I am, but I'm not particularly proud of what this administration has
done and I don't think our hands our clean. I think a lot of people
in this country don't want to look at the fact that we have blood on our
hands just as much as the Germans did from the war that they fought or people
in Middle Eastern countries. We're not the do-gooders here; we're looking
out for our best interests just like other countries do and there's a lot
of guilt and shame throughout history. I just wish American people
would acknowledge that more.
It's not that we're necessarily worse than
other countries, but because we're so big and have so much influence, it
exaggerates the bad elements.
Well, I think we exaggerate the good element a lot. As you said, because
we wield so much influence and have so much money, a lot of countries have
to put up with us and whatever we want to do because they need us.
As of late, I'm starting to feel that our country, our administration, our
government is taking advantage of some of these countries and actually taking
advantage of its citizens by manipulating us in a lot of ways that isn't
cool. You'd have to be the stupidest person the face of the earth not
to question what is going on. I think it's important to question everything
in life. Essentially, this record, if it says anything, it speaks for
all people. It's all about people taking a stand. It's not directed
at the American government. It's just get up and fucking speak your
mind. If they're going to black-ball us and go back a million years
to the Nixon administration or start McCarthyism all over again, then fuck
it, let's make them do it. Let's make them stand up and tell the people
that we're not allowed in this country to speak our mind and have an opinion.
It's a scary time, look in the news. Roe v. Wade is about to be overturned
and there's a serious conservative element that's creeped into our country
and taking a hold. Martin Sheen got dropped from some very lucrative
commercial because he spoke his mind; Sean Penn same thing; Janeane Garofalo…
what kind of example is being set in this country? If you question
authority, you're going to not get work? Or your record is not going
to be put out? Or you're going to be accused of being a terrorist?
It all sounds like maybe you're being ridiculous and you're making a mountain
out of a molehill, but just read. Don't watch CNN - check out commondreams.org
and you'll find out what's going on from people that have no reason to lie.
I'm just at a place in my life where I have become more politically aware,
in my small-minded American way, and I feel liberated. I'm not afraid
to talk and say what's on my mind. I've read some reviews where people
say, 'Well, I don't want to hear all this anti-American sentiment,' and I'm
just like, 'Dude, read the lyrics, first, because it's not anti-American.
And secondly, it's our fucking right, so don't listen, but don't empower
this idea of shutting people up because there is nothing empowering about
being silenced.
When the whole war came alone, I was like,
'Okay, this is where Bush totally fucks up and people finally stand up to
him.' But then hardly anyone did stand up to him and the ones that
did totally got shouted down.
They got shouted down and they got black-balled in their businesses.
There are people that aren't working right now because people in Hollywood
and big corporations are afraid to hire them. I feel totally grateful
that Sanctuary has listened to this record, they loved it and they embraced
it and they were like, 'Hell yeah! Shout it from the roof-tops!'
(laughs) At that point you can really put humor into it and you have
to. You have to laugh at life a little bit or else you never leave
your house.
It sounds like this is the most collaborative effort so far.
Yeah, I think so. I know it's the happiest I've ever seen Sascha.
It sounds cliché, but it's true in this particular instance with this
particular band - we're such good friends. We haven't gotten to the
point where there have been any major issues, business- wise, creatively
or personal, for us to be estranged from one another. We really adore
each other and hang out, cook together and go to clubs and party, whatever.
As different as we all are, we kind of have a similar take on things.
It was easiest record I've made in my life, honestly, and I've been in a
lot of bands and I've worked with a lot of different people and I've never
worked with a group that just gelled like this and just enjoyed the process
as much as we did.
"From Here on Out" is a great song, reminds me of some of the mdfmk material. What can you tell me about that one?
Ah, you know, that's one of my least favorite songs on the album. That
song's been a cross to bear for me. When the boys gave me the track
and I worked on it and I came up with that melody, I was convinced that it
was really good. I sang it for them and they were like, 'This is so
good!' With my vocals, I let the boys produce me because when I'm singing,
I lose all perspective, so I count on them to give me vocal direction.
And they do things with me that I shouldn't be able to do - they stretch
it and pull my voice in ways a real singer would never allow her voice to
be turned into. (laughs) I really wanted to have a much more aggressive
vocal approach on that and it wasn't gelling. The boys made me pull
back to the point where I felt like a lot of the life was sucked out of it.
But people are responding to that and saying, 'Wow, vocally you have really
grown!' I think I have to get used to it. I think it is good,
I just think I'm not used to hearing myself sound so laid back. It's
easy to hide behind all those vocal histrionics, especially in a live setting.
You get all excited and you're doing all the screamy bits and shouting and
you can hide behind that in a way, but when you have to pull back and the
less is more approach - there's a lot more work involved in that. You
have to get your point across in a different way, not just shouting.
Being Italian, I come from a long line of people that get upset and yell
at each other and that's how they get their point across, then they make
up and it's nothing. For me, the whole trick to that was getting my
point across in as quiet a manner as I could. That's what they wanted
me to do and I did it, but I'm still not comfortable enough with that approach
to say, 'Yeah, I love that song.' I'm still like, 'Is that me?'
(laughs) I guess it's all an exercise in control. One thing I
can be most proud of is they really stretched me vocally and had me doing
things that weren't natural. So for me, it's like, wow, I did that
and now I've got to re-create that live and I don't get too excited and fuck
them up and give them each the integrity and the style they had on the record.
Once you get on tour and you're standing on stage, you're so excited and
there's all this adrenalin and sometimes that adrenalin gets away form you
and you end up over-compensating.
How long did it take to write and record WWIII?
About a year, maybe a little longer.
KMFDM has always kept busy and rarely lets more than a year go by without a release.
I wouldn't have it any other way and thankfully the guys wouldn't either.
We're creative people. The mainstream is more of an issue for me than
anyone else in the band because I've constantly my whole life been trying
to crack the nut of the mainstream. I wanted to be a big rock star,
but for some reason, they don't want me. (laughs) So I'm constantly
writing and trying to make my voice better. It's nothing new to me.
There are periods you go through where you don't feel prolific and you don't
feel like you want to write, but I think, and you probably hear this more
from literary people than you would from artistic people, but in my opinion
you have to force yourself to work through those times. I know that
Sascha and the rest of the guys in the band are working every day.
Even when Sascha is not working, he's in his studio coming up with stuff
- he can't help it. These people that need to take four or five years
stepped I shit, got lucky, got a big record deal and now they have to live
up to the hype. The rest of us people out there who weren't that fortunate
or, in Sascha's case he didn't want to be a big star, he's all about DIY
and keeping the integrity. When you're an artist, a real artist, you
have to create. It calls to you in the morning, it calls to you at
night, and you have to get it out and that's what we do. There's a
lot of stuff we end up working on that goes nowhere, but there's more that
gets used. We sometimes do vocals at two in the morning, after a big
dinner. We could all be hanging out and be like, 'Hey, let's do something!'
We're really excited about it and after all the years each and every one
of us has been working on our various projects and now collectively with
KMFDM, it feels so good to work with people that have that need. We
work hard and we play hard, you balance it out. I never look at writing
as a struggle. I look at it as a puzzle. Ever since I was a little
girl, they represented jigsaw puzzles to me. That's what melodies are;
they're like puzzles that you need to fit into the right places to write
a song. So I'm very visual and I see things in my head. I'm sure
the boys' process is completely different, what compels them to create, but
at the end of the day all paths lead to one. We are really creatively
hungry all the time, needing to feed that little creative bug in the pit
of our stomach that is constantly, 'Feed me! Write me! Sing!'
In the beginning, it's like a discipline, then all of a sudden, it's a habit,
and it's your life. Whether or not there is anything going on, we're
doing it.
That cool to hear. A lot of bands
that are as far into their careers as KMFDM, you can tell that it has become
just a job and the inspiration just isn't there.
I think that's kind of sad and I think a lot of bands that have been able
to achieve a certain amount of success and there's that big paycheck, I think
they have a lot to live up to, the lifestyles and this and that. We're
like a band of vagabonds, we can live anywhere comfortably. Hey, I'm
not going to lie to you, I really like a nice bottle of wine and a four-star
dinner, but I can make them myself. I can buy a bottle of six dollar
wine and make a feast that most restaurants couldn't make for under $20.
So we'll live anywhere, do whatever we need to do in order to be able to
feed this creative monsters that live inside of us and I love it. I
can't imagine my life if I didn't do this. I've finally gotten to the
pint where Sascha and the boys are at, as they're a bit older than I am.
Maybe it took me a little bit longer to mature, but I finally got past that
whole, 'I want to be signed to a record company and get a big deal' - you
know, the aspect of music that really doesn't have anything to do with music.
I finally lost that little childish dream about what it means and now all
I'm left with is what nobody can take away form me - my art and my need to
express it. Working with people that are the same way, that are like,
'Fuck it, let's just write. We'll do it for ourselves. If we
can't afford to tour again in the way we're going to do it this time around,
then we'll strip down, we'll use less. We'll go wherever the hell we
gotta go and do what we gotta do just to do it because we love it.
We really are super lucky to have found each other. I know I've been
in situations where people haven't stuck with me if there wasn't a paycheck
attached with it. That's not the case in this instance - we are going
out on the road and we'll make money and we will get paid - but I can honestly
say, it doesn't matter. I would do it for free. I don't even
know what I'm getting paid and I don't care. I just know that there's
a stage, they're my friends and I need this and I'm going. (laughs)
I need this like air. I'm thrilled with it, I'm a road dog and I've
done this all my life. I'm a girlie-girl but I've got a lot of rough
edges. It's like a traveling circus that I can't wait to begin.
Happy with the move to Sanctuary? Was there any problem with Metropolis?
You know, I'm going to be very careful with what I say. Sascha signed
the deal with Sanctuary and I'm a side-man essentially. I'm not really
a huge fan of labels because I've never had a good experience with labels.
I tread very cautiously. There are always going to be issues that you
have to deal with and we're not exempt in this situation. We're seasoned
and we now what we need from a label and what we should expect and when those
things don't happen, you tend to get very frustrated. If you're not
selling ten million records, you're not at the top of the pile so certain
things tend to slip through the cracks. There have been little things
here and there and I'm not going to say more than that. I hope that
they deliver for us. This record, people seem to like it, so they should
fucking get on the stick and make stuff happen. Whether we'll just
go on tour and it will fade away, we'll have to wait and see. A lot
of what happens with this record and how far it goes is dependant on them.
One thing that is not dependant on them is what happens when we're out on
tour and I can tell you the last time we sold out nearly every place we played.
We love the fans and they come out and if it wasn't for the fans, we probably
wouldn't be able to make records any more. Sascha always knew the importance
of that and he has continued to know the importance of that and just continued
to garner more fans as the years have gone by. So regardless of what
happens with this record, we'll make another record, we're not dependant
on the label. But it would be nice to take it to the next level.
Tell me a bit about your solo album.
It's a really sensitive area for me. I don’t' mind talking about it.
Fortunately, I'm in a situation now where I can release it myself and that's
what I'm doing. I have a lot of experience with labels but have never
had the experience of doing it myself, and now more than ever, the gateway
is there to just directly reach the consumer and the fans. I'm in the
process of getting a new web-site up and I'm going to put it out myself.
I made the record in London with a guy named Ian Stanley, who was a member
of Tears for Fears, and he's worked with everyone from Sinead O'Connor to
Tori Amos. The record I wanted to make was a more introspective album
like that. It's really cool and it's a total departure from what you
hear or know of me with KMFDM. It was the most incredible experience
making that record - the bar was raised and I had to really deliver something
that was uncomfortable and I put that on myself. I really wanted to
try and write something more vulnerable and more about the singing than the
shouting. I was grateful that I had the opportunity to
make that record, even though the company that made all my dreams come true
by giving me the opportunity snatched them right out of my hand. I
was fortunate to get my record back and on, whatever level, I can create
an awareness and that's what I'm doing. I'll be selling them at the
shows. But, as I tell everybody who asks me about it who are fans of
KMFDM, listen, I love this record, but you might be disappointed in it because
it's just not what you're used to hearing me do. Just don't expect
my first foray into the solo arena to be just as heavy as what I do with
KMFDM. I just wanted to explore something different.
Did working on it give you any perspective on working with KMFDM again afterward?
The one thing it did do, I was in the big writing and recording mode, so
my voice was up to speed in a way that it might not have been if I hadn't
been doing all this vocal stuff in the studio. As far as the writing,
it kind of made the writing easier, because when you are really disciplined
about your writing, even when you have writer's block, in some instances
you can work through that. So in writing some of the songs for KMFDM,
where I felt like, 'Uh, I'm having a hard time, I don't want to do this,
I don't think I can do this, I don't have enough perspective - give it to
someone else,' I gave myself a break and just said, 'Okay, I don't have it
in me today, but I'll pick it up tomorrow.' Instead of doing what I
normally would do, like, 'Give it to somebody else.' That discipline
of making my solo album and the singing and writing that was involved with
that was really valuable this time around. Even though the singing
was completely different. I don't really have a typical voice; I'm
not a born diva. I've had to and continue to have to work really hard
for the voice that I have and I abuse the shit out of it. I sing in
ways that I shouldn’t' be able to sing in and it's taxing, but because I
feel like it's more important to give the right delivery than do what's best
for my voice, I end up really pushing the envelope on areas. All the
vocal stuff that I did in London really helped me with that.
Why the title From the Land of Volcanoes?
There are some light moments on the record that are really rare for me.
But I was really exhilarated, I felt like I had a new lease on life when
I got this deal. I never thought I would get another deal again.
And at that time, I was still in the head where being attached to a major
label was very important for me and I saw that as a stepping stone to huge
stardom and I really wanted that. So there are some happy songs on
the record, but for the most part there's a lot of songs that came from a
very tumultuous time and I just thought, 'Wow, From the Land of Volcanoes,
yeah that makes sense because my life has been like an erupting volcano with
all of the situations that I've been through.' It just seemed right
and the original artwork, we went to Hawaii and shot on volcanoes and stuff
and did all kinds of crazy stuff. The whole experience was really fantastic
and hugely impactful on my life in many ways. In just as many good
ways as negative ways.
Do you want to do any solo touring for this album?
I think it is really dependant on what the demand is. If I see that
there is a really big demand for it, I'll do it. Unfortunately, without
a label, it's very difficult to go on a tour when you don't have tour support,
so it's going to be dependant on what the record does. I want to get
out on stage regardless of whether it's for my solo album or KMFDM.
Obviously, I would love to bring it to the stage and I would love to be able
to show that side of myself to the people and I think it would be really
surprising to both them and me what could happen. But without some
backing to make that happen, I don' see how it can, and I'm being really
realistic about what I will e able to achieve on my own. I don't know
how far the Internet will take me and how far my website will take me, how
far I can take it without the big bad corporate monsters pushing it forward.
My expectations are small, I just want the people who really want it to be
able to get it and that to me, if that's as far as it goes, it's further
than it might have turned out to be, considering that when most artists get
dropped from a label they aren't able to get their record back.
Was that a struggle at all, to get your album back?
Yeah, it was hard. But I was so freaked out and so emotional about
it, I think it freaked them out. Everything they thought they knew
about me and all the reasons why they told me they dropped me, the display
that I put on was the complete antithesis of that. So I think that
they were as sympathetic as any corporation can be in a situation like that.
They had a human moment, but I'm sure there have been a lot of artists that
have been dropped since that weren't extended the same courtesy.
[Check out the January 2004 issue of OUTBURN
magazine for the rest of this interview]
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