How did the Kinetik 4.0 audience react to the TERRORFAKT performance?
I assume rather well. I mean, no one threw any tomatoes at us!
Nah, the Kinetik crowds are always awesome. You know, after an entire day of watching bands and artists perform, they still have this massive amount of energy, and that makes us feel great to be on stage and have the honor of entertaining them.
Tell me a bit about how the TERRORFAKT stage presence evolved. The level of activity on-stage, and the sheer number of people involved in the performance, is unique to your group. How did the idea for this kind of a show start, and where do you see it going in the future?
Well, originally it was me and one other person, and from there it evolved, or devolved, to just me…then to maybe three or four other people with me, which could be members of other bands like Manufactura, Cervello Elettronico, etc.
Now it is expanded so much that in actuality, the “live members” right now number about 35 people. Granted, not everyone is at every show, but we have about 10 to 12 people on stage by the time the set is nearing the last few songs. And again, of those 35 random members, some of them also have their own projects or are part of other projects such as Cervello Elettronico, To Mega Therion, Cenotype, Nau-Zee-Aun, Vomit Arsonist, Receiver, Abstinence, Zero Times Infinity, Grendel, Static Sky, E.B.N., Noise Box, Databomb, Manufactura, Everything Goes Cold, and Reinforced, to name a few.
At your show at Kinetik you went to work on destroying a pedestrian barrier. At the Triton festival last year, you destroyed a shopping cart and a wheelchair on stage. Is there any particular meaning behind the objects that your team demolishes?
No. None other than what we can find in towns or the area we are playing that day. Sometimes we will, of course, bring stuff with us to destroy, or ask the promoter to provide some things, but normally when we arrive for load in, two or three guys will go and scavenge for materials.
If you had to choose one song to play at every live show for the rest of your life, which would it be?
“We Know Pain”. One of my first songs, and probably my favorite.
What were some of the key elements leading to the formation of TERRORFAKT?
It was/is an outlet for aggression, destruction, and creation.
The number of North American festivals seems to be in a precarious position. Festivals sprout up and die off rapidly. Kinetik is one of the last remaining events in the region. How valuable to the scene do you believe festivals are?
They are very valuable. Sadly, in the U.S. this type of music is nowhere near as big as it is in Europe. In The U.S., people look at artists like Brittney Spears, Justin Bieber and shit like Justin Timberlake, Beyonce and all that other MTV bullshit and think it’s credible or legitimate music. People would rather watch American Idol or Dancing With The Stars or some shit like Real Housewives of wherever, than try and explore good music. The scene is the U.S. is small, perhaps it’s better that way.
What would you like to see change in the electronic/industrial music scene in the next ten years?
The Fashion. I’d like to see less of it and more of people just being themselves and not worrying so much about how their hair extensions look, or if they have the newest most expensive Cyberdog outfit or whatever. It’s about the music, not your new five-hundred dollar cyber-boots
If you could open for any performer, living or dead, with total disregard for genre, who would you choose?
Wow that’s a tough one. I’d say it would have to be an all day festival type thing. Somewhere randomly placed on the line up would be Johnny Cash, Buck Owens, Einsterzende Neubauten, The Sex Pistols, The Clash, Madness, The Specials, Social Distortion, and Controlled Bleeding (original members).
What single message would you like to most convey to your fans?
Stay Clean.
Relevant links
— interview by Joshua Kreger with photo by Naida Zukic (May 2011)