Interview с Assemblage 23 : DARKSIDE.ru

When you were starting with Assemblage 23, what artistic or musical goals did you have? How much of them have been achieved by now?

I didn’t really have any specific goals at the time. I’ve always had an interest in music, and it was just something I did for fun. I used to make tapes for friends, but that was about it. But after a while, my friends started saying, “Hey this stuff is really good, you should see if someone will release it.” So I sent some demos out, and never got any response from any of the labels, so I just kept doing it for fun. Later down the road, a label showed some interest and that started the ball rolling for Assemblage 23 in a serious way. Honestly, I never would’ve imagined I’d have an album out, let alone that I would have any success with it. So really, the success of Assemblage 23 has been a really cool surprise.

What are your main driving factors in making music? Do such factors as commercial success or public recognition matter for you when you are putting an album together?

No. If I cared about that, I would not be making music in this scene. This scene is so tiny, and even the top-selling artists are not selling very many records compared to the mainstream artists. Music is just something I find enjoyable to do, and really, it is a way for me to blow off some steam and deal with various aspects of life.

The music you are playing is perfect for dancefloors, but your lyrics are always very deep, you write about such topics as human psychology, people’s feelings, fears, their beliefs and regrets… What do you start with – music or lyrics? Which of the two is more important for you personally? And don’t you feel that lyrics are often not heard or understood by a dancing crowd?

The way a song starts is always different. Sometimes lyrics come first, sometimes the music does. But regardless of which comes first, both are equally important. A song that has great music and terrible lyrics is really only half a song in my opinion. Whether or not people notice them or not is not terribly important to me, although I would of course prefer that they do notice them since I spend a lot of time writing lyrics. I have to satisfy myself when I am writing a song, an

d I can’t be satisfied unless a song has the complete package for me… good music AND good lyrics.

What inspires you when you get down to writing lyrics? Is it something that you come across in your life or something that you read about in books or see in movies? Do you have a favorite lyric writer?

Most of the lyrics come from aspects of my life, but books and films can also serve as inspiration as well. But for the most part, I write lyrics to deal with negative aspects of my life. As far as favorite lyric writers… Ian Curtis from Joy Division has always been a favorite of mine. I like a lot of Richard Butler from the Psychedelic Furs’ lyrics too.

Speaking about the song “Fallen Down” - how often do you personally encounter people whom you used to know and who changed for the worse? Does the music business really change people for the worse, or is it just another regular type of business, and humans are always humans?

Well, the song isn’t really about the music business, but you are right it is about changes in people. My personal feeling is that the music business doesn’t change people, it just brings out aspects of their personalities that were always there, but perhaps weren’t acceptable in their normal day to day lives. The music industry really lets people get away with behavior that wouldn’t be tolerated in any other business. So if someone becomes a self-destructive ego maniac because they have an album out, they were probably always that way, they just had to keep it hidden.

The song “Complacent” includes the line “You preferred the company of liars”. And what do you appreciate the most in the people you communicate with?

Honesty. That’s another thing that comes out in the music business a lot, is that you often become surrounded by people kissing your ass, but its not because they genuinely like you, its because they think they can gain something from being close to you. A true friend doesn’t kiss your ass constantly. They will call you on your shit if you are acting like an idiot.

In general, is there a song/album/lyric you are most proud of? Or is there a song you wish you had never released?

I’m a lit

tle embarrassed by “Graverobber”, the first song we ever had released way back in 1995, but it was the song that started Assemblage 23 as a ‘real’ band, so I suppose it served its purpose. As far as favorites… I really like them all for different reasons. They are all a reflection of where I was in my life when I wrote them.

On the album “Storm” (2004) you have the song “30 KFT” that was a real shock to me and nearly everyone else I played the song to. What inspired you to write such a composition? Is it based on personal experience of any kind or the experience some of your friends/relatives had?

Well, I fly a lot because of the band, and of course, even though air travel is extremely safe, in the back of my mind I suppose I do worry sometimes about being in a crash and losing everything and everyone close to me. But the main inspiration for the song came from a documentary about plane crashes in which they played answering machine messages that passengers in a plane going down had left for their loved ones. It was really chilling and kind of stuck with me, so I decided to write a song about it.

As far as I understand, Assemblage 23 is a one-man band in the studio. How many instruments can you play? Have you ever used any acoustic instruments on A23 albums?

Most everything is done with keyboards, although I recently bought an electric bass and have started to play again. I used to play back in high school and found myself really missing it. But those are really the only two instruments I play. As far as acoustic elements, I did an acoustic version of “Ground” that was released on the single of the same name. A friend of mine helped with the guitar parts.

Why aren’t the people from the Assemblage 23 live line-up playing on your studio CDs? Is it due to some equipment/timing limitations, or are you satisfied with the present state of things?

I don’t really like collaborating with other people when writing, to be honest. I usually have a very strong idea of what something should sound like, and once you introduce other people into the equation it just leads to disagreements and arguments until SOMEONE has to compromise. I don’t want to compromise, so I just do every

thing myself. In addition, my live band mates live halfway across the country from me, so co-writing really wouldn’t be very practical.

What do you like more – playing live or working in the studio? And considering the fact that you record by yourself - how much time does it take you to record a CD?

Nowadays I really prefer the studio work. Playing live is fun, but there is so much stuff surrounding it that ISN’T fun, that it just isn’t as enjoyable for me as playing around in the studio is. As far as how long it takes to record a CD… it takes as long as it takes… I don’t really have any guidelines in that sense. I just work until I am satisfied, which can often be quite a long time.

Almost every musician has a person that once inspired him to go in for music seriously. Do you have the one whom you saw/heard and then decided to devote your life to music?

I think Depeche Mode are responsible for me getting into electronic music more than anyone else.

You write very thoughtful lyrics, but at what age did you start writing songs? Can you recollect your first experience in this field?

I‘ve been writing songs from quite a young age… I would say the first stuff I worked on that could be considered a song was around the time I was 11 or 12 years old. Most of it was instrumental at that time, and going back to listen to some of that stuff now… it is just awful, but everyone sucks when they first start out. It just takes time to develop your skill as a songwriter.

On your web-site you write that it doesn’t matter what you were thinking about while writing the song, it is important how the listener will understand the idea of the song. How much do you think your understanding of the song can differ from the one of the listener? Is it interesting for you to learn how different people interpret your songs?

I think it can vary quite a bit. People have told me what certain songs meant to them, and it was completely different from what I had in mind, but when I look at it from another perspective, I can understand why they might see a song in a certain way. And yes, it is fascinating for me to hear how other people interpret my s

ongs. I think it can tell you a lot about a person.

As far as I can judge, you have a dayjob beside the band. How difficult is it for you to combine music and permanent work?

Music is how I make my living, so it is quite easy to combine the two. (smiles)

Last year you brought back to life your side project Nerve Filter, which previously had only released a few songs. Why did you decide that 2005/2006 is the right time for Nerve Filter’s debut CD? And why is it impossible to realize the musical ideas you have for Nerve Filter in the framework of Assemblage 23?

I don’t think there was anything specific about 2005/06 that made it the right time, I just really wanted to do it. I had been putting it off for so long, and I finally realized that if I didn’t make the time for it, I would never do it, and I would be disappointed that I never did it. I wouldn’t say it would be impossible for me to realize the same ideas I use in Nerve Filter within Assemblage 23, but realistically, the two bands could not be more different, and I think it would piss off a lot of Assemblage 23’s fans if I changed the sound of the band so much. I think it is important to keep them as two distinct entities.

How did you team up with Russia’s DJ RAM for his Virtual Server project? How was it like to work with him?

DJ RAM contacted me around the time I was working on “Defiance” (2002) and I agreed to write lyrics and do vocals for a track for him. It was really as simple as that. I am glad it is finally being released!

In one of your songs you write “Who we are is always changing…” And how much have you changed since the release of your first album?

A lot. I would be disappointed if I hadn’t. I would like to think that I have grown older and wiser, but of course, I realize I still have things to learn, and ways to grow in the future.

What shall we expect from a new Assemblage 23 CD, on which you are already working? Will it be a dramatic departure from the style of “Storm”, or will you continue in more or less the same vein?

I don’t want to go into specifics, but I am trying a lot of different stuff and want this next release to show some different sides of Assemblage 23 that people haven’t heard yet.

And to round up this interview, please say a few words to your fans in Russia/Eastern Europe.

Thank you to all our fans… your support means more to me than you will ever know!

Special thanks to Alexei “KIDd” Kuzovlev (Irond) for arranging this interview

Ksenia “Wolfin” Khorina
May 15, 2006
26 май 2006 the End

Assemblage 23

Stranger In The Crowd