Interview: [:SITD:]

A grinding of an old turbine...

"I believe there is a stagnation at the moment that many new bands are coming to scene, though the headliners are continuously the same at many festivals, after ten years and this is what I see when I go to festivals. But the main thing is the scene is still living." 

Snuff machinery deals with a lower lax of German industrial. Slower vocals, that are easier for the body to break away with the main beats beyond minute of the typical industrial EBM genre.[:SITD:] is as group that bring in  vocals that reveal a beacon of hope, from the thick sulphur fumes of Germany’s heartland. Only to be engulfed by the ignition of a coal burning thump from heavy electronic drum machine tones. 

2014 gave out Dunkelziffer into the atmosphere, a composition of a typical [:SITD:] album. The tone is certainly a 2014 noise of the group with a much cleaner detail of sound & vocals, though is this relief to listener’s electronic eardrums? Or a clear sign of industrial technology making a harsh move.

Maturation of the group in comparison to the likes of similar artists, is a strong resilience against the new norm of new genres entering the alternative scene. 

Intravenous Magazine: Is there anything you would like to say towards Dunkelziffer and what is embedded inside the tracks? 

[:SITD:]: To describe it, we find it the darkest album by far! Due to the themes within that enveloped through no pre meditation, we made our style. We don’t consider the volume of electronics or lyrics in a song, it just is created and the rest flows. We stop halfway and listen back and then we discover which direction the song wants to take. Whether that is also in Deutsch or English. 

IVM: Are you together when the songs are being created? 

Carlsen: Yes and no, sometimes at 3am we could have an idea and Tom will go to his keyboard and he will send it, and I will think of lyrics that go with the flow. 

IVM: Bauer Sucht Frau or Come to dine with me? 

[:SITD:]: Both of us love trash TV, so obviously Bauer sucht Frau. 

IVM: Who is the best cook after the two? 

Tom: Probably me! 

Carlsen: No comment. 

IVM: As [:SITD:]of 2014, have you had to become Graphic designers, social media managers, video production as well as music producers, in order to deal with the increase in technology & cost efficiency? 

Tom: By ourselves, definitely not, we have our graphic designer 2- 3 months ago we produced our official video. This area is covered for. 

IVM: With the way that the scene is going, do you think it is down to the festivals, needing to mix-up the flavour with new blood? 

Tom: The only thing I think I can say is that the amount of festivals, especially in Germany is growing and growing and maybe this has a negative effect on single concerts. As an individual person may see it as a better to use his or her money if they can see multiple artists, instead of attending a concert.

IVM: Have you as music artists seen the quality in how you are treated at festivals or concerts gone down or up contract related? 

Carlsen: It is difficult to say, as we play in multiple countries and our status varies, as we are quite well known in Germany, but in North America this differs. Overall we believe

Going back to the way the scene is going at the moment, do you think is confused in which direction it will go? 

Tom: I believe there is a stagnation at the moment that many new bands are coming to scene, though the headliners are continuously the same at many festivals, after 10 years and this is what I see when I go to festivals. But the main thing is the scene is still living. 

IVM: Were you aware of the problems tonight? 

Tom: We didn't know what was the playback issue in the beginning, we had low volume, and we tried to fix this with the sound engineer; though he didn’t know the reason and after the 3^rd song, it was better but only by the 4^th song all systems were running.

IVM: When you were singing Carsten at the beginning do you find it frustrating to perform, that would lead you to wait until the problem is fixed? 

Carsten: Every concert is a challenge, the problem was that we were under a strict time schedule, and we would end up having to shorten the show, we wanted to keep playing.

IVM: If live music isn't nearing a comparison to what it may sound like in the studio, is this adding to frustration? 

Tom: It is always a different situation to a studio whether it be a small club or Blackfield Festival, it will never sound in comparison to the quality of a studio, but that is good quality in itself.

IVM: With platforms such as Soundcloud and the ability to analyse the statistics do you allow it to impact the song creation, from possible favourability over certain styles? 

Tom: Absolutely not, of course we are looking at that for curiosity, though it does not really affect the creation of our work.

IVM: Who would you like to be in Hannibal? 

Carlsen: What we don’t like Hannibal! Ask us about Breaking bad!

IVM: You like Breaking Bad??? Why? 

Tom: It is the best, have you not seen what happens in the seasons?

IVM: With the way that bands in the scene are needing to change their model for cost reasons and revenue stream, is there any way in which [:SITD:] has innovated itself to deal with the challenges of keeping it alive? 

Carlsen: Not really actually, from the beginning we found a way and style to handle different situations whether good or bad, though we don’t have any special models. In our band, I am responsible alone for the music and cost and Carsten is responsible for the lyrics, so there is no special plan.

IVM: So with the emergence of platforms such as Spotify, which obviously has negative affect on [:SITD:] CD sales, not to forget file sharing. You haven’t consider Meth production as a new source of income for Band? 

Tom: The Interview is now over! 

IVM: Billy Idol or Tokio Hotel? 

Tom: Is that a serious question?


IVM: By this moment I believe I found out the secret to the industrial cooking pot of the band....Trash TV! 




[:SITD:]'s most recent album 'Dunkelziffer' is available to buy now through Asscension Records. For more information on the band, including release and tour news, please visit their official website. 

Posted in: [:SITD:],DJ LX-E,interviews,Vienna