DJ Morgana's Interview with Icon of Coil
Funhaus, Toronto - September 20, 2004
(Verbatim Transcription)

Back to Distorted Circuitry

Introduction
On lyrics
On Seb's side projects
On smoking in clubs and world petrol prices
On Andy and Christian's side projects
On upcoming releases
On the origin of the name "Icon of Coil"
On listening to other music
On performing live
On Andy's "fanbase"
Conclusion: On other interests and what's coming up


Introduction

Morgana:
First I ll introduce myself. I'm DJ Morgana and I do a radio show online at distortedcircuitry.com and I've done college radio for like 7/8 years and I'm a big fan of you guys. I saw you the first time in Boston opening for VNV Nation.

Christian:
Yeah. Trocadero.

Morgana:
Uh...

Christian:
What was the name of that club? The Roxy?

Andy:
The Roxy! That's right!

Morgana:
Yes, the Roxy. That was it. Yeah. But I wasn't at synthpopgoestheworld. I didn't live in Toronto before, until 2 years ago.

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On lyrics

Morgana:
Since you guys were just speaking Norweigan, I'll start with my Norweigan question.

Morgana to Andy:
I guess you are the one who writes the lyrics mostly?

Andy:
Yeah.

Morgana to Andy:
Do you find that you write in English or do you write in your native language and then kind of translate it?

Andy:
I'm writing in English.

Morgana:
Yeah?

Andy:
Yeah. It's always hard to do stuff in Norweigan, especially for me because I've never been a fan, or never had any feelings for Norweigan literature, so I have always been reading the English poems and English literature and all the stuff that's inspired me has been in the English language. Like Norweigan has never been important to me for writing anything.

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On Seb's side projects

Morgana:
I wanted to ask about the side projects as well.

Andy:
Start from there (points to Seb) and come over here.

Morgana:
Alright. (To Seb:) Tell me I guess first about Monofader and I guess my main question is "Did that come about because of your work with Spekralized like on that album?"

Seb:
Well, actually the first song came out before that. But you know, during spare time (we) just hooked up and just played around with ideas. I never had any plan of actually releasing an album.

Morgana:
And what made you decide to form a side project called Monofader as opposed to just having another release of Spektralized ?

Seb:
Well I m not part of Spektralized.

Morgana:
Oh ok. So that was their own thing and you kind of helped them out? And then this was a specific project between the two of you guys?

Seb:
Yes, ah-ha. Basically just two guys making music and suddenly it s on CDs.

Morgana:
Ok. And I guess one of the projects I m really excited about is Moonitor because I heard the release on Artoffact Records and it sounds great and what are your plans for that band? Are you planning to release a CD on Artoffact or are you still looking around?

Seb:
Yeah, I m right now writing. I have plans for an album. Like right now I m going through the contract with Artoffact. Yeah, it s going well. Actually I was supposed to be on a little tour in Canada but certain circumstances postponed that.

Morgana:
Alright. Maybe next year?

Seb:
Yup. Definitely!

Morgana:
And how do you find it balancing Icon of Coil and all of the side projects? Is it a matter of time management?

Seb:
Well we definitely don t have time management. (Laughs) But, I don t know. It works well. When you have an album you focus on that. It works well though, you know lack of sleep and stuff like that. Sometimes there s too many mails to organize. Uh-oh, who wants what?
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On smoking in clubs and world petrol prices

(Andy lights up a cigarette)

Morgana:
Ok this makes me think of another question: What do you think about the no-smoking law in Toronto in clubs?

(Laughs)

Seb:
Funny you mention that. It just happened in Norway too, actually.

Morgana:
Oh did it? Really?

Christian:
Yeah.

Andy:
But everywhere we go, we re always like, Can we smoke here? Yeah, until the doors open.

Morgana:
Right, right.

Andy:
But it sucks. I mean, for me, personally, it s not that bad because I can go out and smoke.

Morgana:
Uh-huh

Andy:
I don t look at it as too serious or too big a thing. But it s like the whole, I don t know, the whole social thing has been kind of I don t know, I don t want to say corrupted but some kind of damaged (for) it, because every club is like, there s a lack of people there, you know, because it s so recently. When you go in the U.S., it s not that bad, because everybody s used to it, so the clubs are still full, because it s been there for a long time, especially like L.A. It s been there for a long time and everybody s used to it and the clubs are still full. Like Norway just happened this spring, like here, as well, you have in the summer or whatever, and you can really feel it in the night life because people who smoke, they don t really want to go out anymore, you know.

Morgana:
Unless you enjoy standing on the sidewalk.

Andy:
Exactly. And there you can t bring your drink, you know, so one of the things of going out when you have a beer or a cigarette is like to have a beer and a cigarette , not beer and a cigarette .

Morgana:
Right, right. Is it still super expensive for beer in Norway? I only went to Oslo for like a day and I went to this little town, Flam, in the mountains it was beautiful and beer was something like $10/bottle Canadian.

Andy:
Yeah yeah yeah. It s like It s ridiculous.

Seb:
Everything is like that.

Andy:
It s why I moved to Germany.

Morgana:
Is it expensive for people who live there as well or is it relative?

Andy:
Yeah, for sure.

Morgana:
It s an elevated expense compared with what you make?

Christian:
Cigarettes and alcohol. It s just like wshoooo .very expensive.

Andy:
Yeah.

Morgana:
Hmm.

Andy:
Cigarettes, alcohol, uh, fuel. You d pay like 2 Canadian dollars for a litre of fuel (there).

Morgana:
Mmm-hmm. Right, yeah. I was just in Europe for about 6 weeks and I was looking at the prices all around and everybody complains here, but it s a lot cheaper here.

Andy:
Yeah. Like of the price over here. Like in the US you get for the same amount of money as you pay for 1 litre there you get 1 gallon.

Morgana:
It s kind of scary though, because you think of why that s happening with Bush and everything and then you re kind of like

Andy:
I mean, the funniest thing was like when this is happening is like everybody expected to be cheap, but the price is still going up so I guess there s a lot of people who think that way, but to be honest, I don t think that effects it at all because you see the price is still going up, you know, so...

Christian:
Icon of Coil on Gas (Laughs) Next topic

(Laughs)

Morgana:
Alright. We got on a little tangent there

Andy:
Yeah.

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On Andy and Christian's side projects

Morgana:
Ok before we get into all Icon of Coil stuff, what about your side-projects. What do you want to say about Combichrist and How do you say the other one? Is it Panzer age or Panzer A. G. ?

Andy:
A.G. Or it s actually Panzer ah-gey. It doesn t really matter. It s a German word. Um, it means, it basically means like Tank, Inc. you know.

Morgana:
Ok.

Andy:
Well both of the projects were basically stuff that I did for fun, just in my spare time and were never meant to go anywhere, like, but suddenly I had a lot of material and, uh, Combichrist became more and more serious because we like, we live the same thing with the Moonitor and Monofader stuff he had suddenly more time to work with this because I moved to Germany and I had more stuff to do my own stuff because I was in Germany alone, because when we work on Icon of Coil we prefer to work together, in the studio, Seb and me talk and we work on Icon of Coil. So when we re alone we re able to just do whatever we want with all the stuff, even if we tend to release it or not. So it s not like we have to do it, it just happens. So Combichrist becomes more and more serious. The same thing with his side-projects as well. Even though, of course, Icon of Coil is still the main thing. But, um, we are still just as serious with these other things as we are with Icon of Coil, it s just that when the time comes, we focus on Icon of Coil.

And Panzer A.G. is basically just a studio project. I m not doing anything live with it. Combichrist I m doing a lot of live shows that are really focusing on the really small clubs, like, because it s just to keep a real underground feel, you know. Like I really like to play at the clubs, like 100 people capacity almost when you get 100 people in and you re still like, really dirty clubs, and you still keep the real underground feel to it. And, um, that s basically why I did it. It s just to do something more noisy, more directly dancefloor, noisy stuff more for fun. Like, basically, just thinking, what would I like to dance to? And not, what kind of songs should we make, that we like the songs in itself? Like, not focusing too much on the songwriting and the emotional things around like in Icon of Coil, but I wanted to something that is strictly something that I would like to dance to, no matter what, like so I don t really care, I can do a really hard techno track and maybe do a noise track on the same album. It doesn t really matter. It s just, just for fun.

Morgana:
Um, I really wanted to get a cell phone and put as my ring, intruder alert intruder alert.. but I don t have a fancy cell phone

Andy:
Naw, neither do I. (Laughs)

Morgana:
But, yeah, I think that would make a great cell phone ring.

(They laugh)

Morgana:
And I guess I ll ask you the same thing that I asked him (Seb) about the side projects: What made you decide to separate the two. Are they conceptually that different that you wanted to keep Combichrist different from Panzer AG?

Andy:
Yeah because um the whole thing with Panzer AG is like it s not well there s still electronic stuff in it, of course, but I mean there s not that much like techno influences in it. I tried to keep away from the techno influences in it to do something different than I was working on all the time.

Morgana:
Ah-ha.

Andy:
Like try to make something more orchestral and I had in the back of my head, I had like even though it might not sound like Ministry but like, from that time era, where we were listening to that stuff, like to go back there, like Will, you know, and uh, Ministry, and stuff like this. I had this in the back of my head like to do something more symphonic, and something a little darker and I had a concept around the whole thing you know, this whole war thing without trying to be political, trying to be more like sarcastic about it, and just

Morgana:
Yeah, I saw the disclaimer on the CD. (Laughs)

Andy:
Yeah. And that s a bad thing. You have to put a disclaimer on the CD. It s like everybody misunderstands. It s just stupid that you have to write this on a CD. But it s like my label, they just said, You have to have this on the CD because people will misunderstand you and I m like, Why? How? Can t they think for themselves? But, there s a lot of people who can t, so

(Laughs)

Morgana (to Christian):
And, ah what about you? You have any, uh, project aspirations happening?

Christian:
Yes. Something happening. But I mean, my side-projects are still back home in my equipment and computers, so if anybody wants to listen to it, they have to come back to my place. I can give you my address.

(Laughs)

Christian:
That s ok.

(Laughs)

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On upcoming releases

Morgana:
Alright. Ahhh Ok. This is kind of a random Icon of Coil question maybe. I don t know. Do you plan to have a re-issue of your first album One Nation Under Beat ? Because I know a lot of people don t know about that album.

Seb:
The EP?

Morgana:
Yeah. It was an EP, I guess. Yeah, it was great.

Andy:
I don t know. We have been talking about maybe doing new versions of those tracks and put it on something else, but I don t think we ll re-release it, but it might be that we re-do some of the songs that come out at a later point. I don t know.

Morgana:
There s so many bands doing Best of things on Metropolis now. Maybe you guys could do a Best of Icon of Coil .

Andy:
No, we re doing, actually what we re doing is a remix CD that is coming out just in a couple of months (Seb corrects him) Oh next year, maybe. And it basically should be in print. And it s like a mix of the first 2 albums. It s not including Machines are Us , but all the other releases, and we just took out like a few tracks from each release that is remixed, and a couple of new versions of a couple of songs, like a new version of Shallow Nation and Thrillcapsule .

Morgana:
And you re remixing them, or having other people remix them?

Andy:
Um, Shallow Nation is a new version. Thrillcapsule is a Moonitor mix.

Seb:
A new version of Floorkiller.

Andy:
A new version of Floorkiller. Thrillcapsule, the Moonitor mix, actually, we do it live as well. You know, it s like, we get away with playing it live.

Seb:
We just want to play something new, that we ve been playing for a long time.

Andy:
And the rest is remixed by all the people well, I got a Combichrist mix, he (points to Seb) did a mix, we got an Apop mix. Funker Vogt is remixing, and lots of other bands.

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On the origin of the name "Icon of Coil"

Morgana:
Um, ok this is maybe not that exciting of a question, but what is the origin of the name Icon of Coil ?

Andy:
Basically it was just playing around with stuff. But you know, I answer that differently every time somebody asks.

(Laughs)

Morgana:
Oh, ok.

Andy:
No, seriously, basically we have said a lot of different things just to mess around with it. Sometimes we have been sarcastic and have come up with this really deep meaning, and stuff like this. But basically it s just playing around with words, and what made sense compared to the logo and stuff like this because basically I made the logo before the name. It was like a circle, and you know it s like a coil, and it had the icon we came up with these words and it became Icon of Coil. Icon of Coil was actually the logo because it it s and icon spiral somehow. There s no deeper meaning to it than just the sign somehow.

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On listening to other music

Morgana:
Ok, hum, some of these things we ve already covered (looking at question sheet). Um, Ok What are some of your current favourite CDs that you each are listening to?

(They laugh)

Andy:
Uhh..

Morgana:
Or what kind of music that you are currently liking?

Seb:
Plasticman.

Morgana:
Pardon me?

Seb:
Plasticman.

Morgana:
Plasticman? He s uhhh Richie Hawtin? He s from Windsor where I m from. I ve actually never met him, but I like his stuff a lot, too.

Andy:
Yeah. Plasticman s cool. I listen to, I don t know I listen to Chris ?Liebing (inaudible), uh It s really a hard question you know, because I listen to

Seb:
you like Rob Zombie

Andy:
Yeah Rob Zombie is cool. I listen to a lot of 'cockrock'. Backyard babies, Turbo Negro. I listen to Johnny Cash. Uh, like I say, Chris ?Liebing (inaudible) is one of my favourite artists.

Christian:
The new Skinny Puppy is great.

(Seb agrees)

Andy:
Yeah, I actually prefer the second Ohgr album.

Morgana:
I love it a lot.

Andy:
But that s one of my favourite albums that came out the last 3 years. It s one of my favourite albums because it s more..it has a strange electro sound to it. I really like it. Even though it s quite similar to the new Skinny Puppy album as well, but I guess it s just because I m more into that album because I ve been listening to it so often. I ve never been a Skinny Puppy fan so I m very excited about the new stuff even though I know a lot of the Skinny Puppy fans are not *that* excited about it because it s totally different somehow for them, but I m very excited about it.

Morgana:
Yeah, I ve heard mixed things. Some people love it and some people

Andy:
Yeah exactly, yeah exactly.

Christian:
I love the album and the old stuff. I ve always loved Skinny Puppy and I just felt like things were going the wrong way so I stopped listening to them. That s why I was so surprised with the new album because it sounds so fresh and different again.

Andy:
Exactly.

Christian:
Something new. I really like it.

Andy:
And I think also it was because he found a lot of inspiration working with Ohgr stuff. I mean it s still the both of them, doing Ohgr stuff as well, so it s not surprising that he sounds like this now, but he should have been pretty excited about what he did there so of course it should effect what they re doing now.

Morgana:
Right.

Andy:
I mean we re listening to everything really.

Christian:
Terrence Fixmer.

Andy:
Yeah.

Christian:
Also rock stuff like Radiohead.

Andy:
I m really excited about this new band, ?(Sebox) (inaudible). It s really, really good from Germany. They re like right on drum n bass. Extremely good. Extremely good. It s like kind of noisy, but still got a good groove. It s really, really good dancefloor material. It s not like most of the noise bands. They re like focusing too much on the noise than actually the tracks, you know, and they re like we want it to sound extreme , and they forget about the track, you know. But ?(Sebox) (inaudible) is really managing to maintain the noise and the power of the track and still have a really good track. They re really, really good.

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On performing live

Morgana:
Ok. Um, let s see. What do you like best about performing live? I mean, obviously, you like performing live.

(inaudible discussion among them)

Andy:
Yeah, performing live.

Morgana:
I mean, you guys have a great live show.

Andy:
The reaction of people, yeah.

Seb:
The energy you get back from the crowd. The interaction.

Morgana:
Do you find you have expectations going in or do you take each city differently?

Christian:
We try not to worry about it.

Andy:
To be honest, as well, we come to the venue and set up the stuff. We re thinking about what s going to happen tonight. I wonder what kind of show it s going to be tonight. And after sound check, we basically don t even think about it or talk about it offstage. Two minutes before we go on stage, we can have a discussion about, like, I don t know, beer or whatever, like before we went on stage in Montreal, I don t remember what it was, everybody was like we re going on stage now. Yeah, yeah And we were like, talking about something totally

(Christian remembers and says what it was >inaudible<)

Andy:
Yeah, yeah Actually we never think about it until the second we go on stage because we never know what to expect, and we get used to it, so we just there s nothing to talk about. There s nothing to think about until you go on stage because you do your best anyway. You go on stage and you just do your best and during the first song you always get a feeling of what kind of crowd you got and if they re extremely good, you get feedback, and you get more power. You just keep it going and going. You could do a two-hour set if you have the right audience, you know. Other times you could do like 50 minutes and then that s it because even though the audience is good there s still the vibe of the whole venue, the vibe of the people and everything. They might be very much into it, but it s just the way they express it, and everything like this. You never actually know. It s like if you play in Sweden I remember like one of the first times we played in Sweden, it was like, the people were so much into it like dancing. (something inaudible) They were like mental just because there was a band on stage and they were really drunk, you know. Other places you go you play for totally sober audiences because it might be a Wednesday and most of people might just stand around and look at us and they go mental between the songs and for us it doesn t feel that good. But afterwards you realize that everybody loved it but they..

Seb:
after the show this guy comes up after seeing him in front of the stage all show, Wow that was the best show I ve ever seen

Andy:
Yeah. yeah. That s like one extreme for us. In Germany on the last European tour. Everybody was just standing there with their arms crossed. Like everybody! And I was like, I started walking down on the floor amongst the people and kind of pushing them around. We were kind of having a little fun out of it as well We were kind of joking, being a little sarcastic and stuff like this, and we were like Ok this sucks . We go offstage, pack everything down as soon as possible, get the hell out of this city and get to another city to go to a party. It was Saturday night, you know, and it was like Leipzig was just 2 hours away so Let s go to Leipzig and have a party so we go offstage and there s this line of people and it was just like, It s the best show I ve ever seen and I was like, If it s the best show you ve ever seen, why don t you dance?! or at least something. It all depends. It s really strange, but of course the best part about playing live is the fans.

Morgana:
How was the show last night in Montreal?

Andy:
Very good. Great. It was great.

(Seb and Christian agree)

Morgana:
They usually get a good crowd for shows.

Andy:
Yeah, it was a very good crowd.

Morgana:
Was it at Foufs?

Andy:
Foufounes Electriques? ...some strange French thing.

Morgana:
You know what that means, right?

Andy:
I have no idea.

Morgana:
It s ah part of the female anatomy.

Andy:
Ok.

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On Andy's "fanbase"

Morgana:
Ok. Ah, speaking of female anatomy, it s no secret you re one of the hot guys in the scene. What s the craziest thing that any female fan has done, or said, or e-mailed you?

(Many laughs)

Andy:
No comment! (Laughs) No, no comment.

Morgana:
Alright. You don t want to have that in print.

(Laughs)

Andy:
No, no comment.

Morgana:
Do you get crazy e-mails from girls?

Christian:
And boys

(Laughs)

Andy:
I might.

Morgana:
Alright. I guess I should pass that one.

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Conclusion: On other interests and what's coming up

Morgana:
Uhhh I was just going to ask maybe what some of your other interests are besides music. Do you guys have other 'career' jobs as well?

Seb:
(inaudible: he says that him and Andy do this full time and that Christian is still studying)

Andy:
Basically I have, on a normal week, I have like 4 hours sleep per night. If I m not out playing or DJ-ing or whatever I am waking up in the morning, getting a coffee, going to the computer, set up the computer, getting my cup of coffee, going to check something, I walk my dog, come back, if there s food I bring it into the studio and I m sitting there, I walk my dog, I go back to the studio. That s all I do all the time basically if I m not going out to the clubs. So another job would be impossible. And, I mean the last time we had one week free, you know, one week off was in March, you know There s no time for anything else.

Morgana:
Alright this for a last question, what is up and coming for Icon of Coil besides the remix CD which we already discussed?

Andy:
The show tonight. The show tonight.

Seb:
The tour.

Andy:
Yeah, it s like we just have to focus on one thing at a time. You know, he s got his stuff going on with Moonitor, I have to finish the Combichrist stuff I ve got an EP and an album, and we still have in the back of our head Icon of Coil as well. We ve got to take one step at a time to finish up what we are already scheduled and finish the tour. We have a remix compilation that s coming out. In Europe it s coming out like a digi-pack with a single of the Shelter on it as well as well with a remix disc, a vinyl of the Shelter single is coming out, and, uh, basically we have to see what s going on. We have more than enough to do until February anyway. Then we re working on an album so we just have to schedule everything.

Morgana:
Alright, well thank you very much for taking the time to interview with me.

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