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You've decided to give away the Kalashnikovs & Car Bombs EP for free from today. An obvious question will be - what made you decide to do so ?
A limited amount of physical CDs were made, and there are only a handful left. Anyone who has bought a CD has supported the band. If anyone still wants to be one of the few to own a physical copy, they should get it now.
On an artistic note, it is necessary to get the music heard while it is still relevant. If the Scorpions had released the god-awful “wind of change” in 1991, you and I would never have heard of it (come to think of it, that may not have been such a bad thing). If you are going to take the unusual step of writing music about current affairs, it is only relevant for a few years at most.
The EP provides a powerful mix of Drum n Bass and steady metal riffing. This sound differs quite a bit than the sound on the self-titled debut - where do you think this evolution came from ?
The debut album was strong musically, but relatively mild. This oversight has now been rectified, and we are looking forwards to regressing back to the primal state of a 14 year old who has just discovered the distortion pedal.
The sound of the EP (which, don’t forget) was recorded over a year ago, was designed to be the ultimate noise of mass destruction. I think it’s a bit weird that a metal band can use a drum-loop for about 5 seconds on their album, and people think they are experimenting. The flip side is that you get DnB DJs sampling 2 seconds of a metal track, and people think they are experimenting too. The Bombs Of Enduring Freedom is one of the few bands actually taking this idea to the logical extreme.
Probably the most catchy and straight forward track is Home Grown Terror. It is the only track on the release that includes actual vocal lines in stead of sampled in vocal bits. What's the reason for this ? Why did you decide to use so many sampled in vocals ?
Basically, I have this sound of an ideal vocal sound in my mind that totally destroys without tipping over into Death Metal. I cant do this (few people can). That sound is probably closest to Max Cavalera – who unfortunately is probably unavailable to record vocals low (no) budget experimental music.
Another reason is that I have always tried to push the whole idea of sampling to a new level. It is an art-form in itself – the ultimate in the skill of editing. I love nothing better than getting some audio of a insane fanatical twat and editing his words to say something completely different to that which was intended. I should work as an editor for the BBC or CNN – they do this every day !
Home Grown Terror comes also with an undeniable lyrical theme, including lines such as 'if you want to get your voice heard at all today, Kalashnikovs and Car Bombs are the only way' and 'solve problems with brute force an American tradition'. What is the message you try to spread lyrically on this track ?
Well, I guess the fundamental meaning behind this is that can you really be surprised that desperate and down-trodden people are turning to fanaticism and are willing to blow themselves to pieces in order to make a statement ? The next time you hear of a terrorist atrocity, try to imagine how desperate a struggle must be that the only way to get heard is to take up arms or make the ultimate sacrifice.
One of the best documentaries that I saw recently was “The War on Democracy” by John Pilger (http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3739500579629840148) . We have to stop seeing other people as the ‘enemy’ – they are just people with a different perspective / religion / language / nationality, who are fighting for their very lives in the face of US state-sponsored terror. We are all human beings for f**k sake.
I have been lucky enough to have my eyes and ears opened to what you don’t see in the media. This has it’s roots in my very upbringing, and is something I am grateful to my parents for giving me.
Baghdad is more or less a "tribute" to the situation the city is in today. How do you think it'll look in ten years ? What will be changed and what will be the same ?
Baghdad – the cradle of civilisation as we know it ; It’s a f**king bomb-site. That is a pretty good analogy of civilisation today.
Protect And Survive comes with a cynical undertone bringing us back to the times of the Missile Crisis. What are your views on the things that were happening back then ?
Well – I am perhaps more conspiratorily minded than most. I personally believe that we were far from a nuclear conflict. If you believe, as I and many others do (including former world leaders), that – to a certain extent - we live and have lived in a world of only one power for at least 100 years (follow the money trail), then it is not so hard to see through it all. The US and the USSR both relied on finance. Now it is US & China.
The only danger that there would ever be conflict of mass destruction is when they decide to de-populate the planet. But that would be unlikely to happen using nuclear weapons (which would be like pissing in your cereal) – it is far more likely to come in the form of manufactured disease and plague – which then leaves the inoculated with a clean slate to start with.
The track “Protect & Survive” is basically pointing out that all the fear our populations suffered were at the hands of our own governments terrifying us with the spectre of nuclear conflict. The solution to the threat ? 3 doors leaned against the wall and some pillows…
Recently North-Korea has been testing several nuclear rockets, and therefore flashbacks to the Missile Crisis appeared in news bulletins everywhere around the world. Are we as close to a nuclear war as they made us believe we were back then ?
I doubt it very much. North Korea is being used as a puppet by China to pressure the Americans out of the Korean peninsula. I heard today that the US are offering financial aid to North Korea to halt their nuclear programme. This is strange, as a large amount of US debt is to China. Stranger still is that I seem to remember reading that the North Korean nuclear reactor was actually built by an American company some years back.
Would you really want to survive a nuclear winter anyway ? If you have yet to decide, then watch Threads ; (http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2023790698427111488)
Two State Revolution is a song featuring the Norm Rejection vocalist, referring to the Israel / Palestine conflict. In the first months of 2009 Israel responded some rockets that were fired from Palestine soil with massive military action and aggression. What are your views on what happened ?
Anyone who has grown up hearing news headlines knows that violence in the middle east is nothing new – the only difference this time was that the truth was inescapable ; a tyrannical militarist and fascist regime (Israel) was commiting genocide live on TV for all to see. However the Israeli spokesperson denied it, it was plain to see. There is an organisation called B’Tselem – they are a direct action group which is run from Israel by people who are sick of seeing this violence commited in their name. What they do is to distribute video cameras to the Palestinians in the occupied territories, so that human rights abuses by the IDF (Israeli Defence Forces) can be captured on camera and then distributed on the internet and to TV stations. Although under-reported in the media, this has begun to have relatively massive implications already. A picture is worth a thousand words - An unedited picture is worth a million !
Some people say "If Rabin wasn't killed back then, he and Arafat would have brought peace in the Israel and Palestine territories" - some say that not much would have been different from now after all. What are your thoughts ?
Rabin was murdered. Who he was murdered by, and the reason why, is well known.
Free For How Long ? is probably the most Drum n Bass based track, trying to teach the Americans that armed responses are not the solution but the cause some of the problems we face today. What do you think would have happened if there weren't this many CIA interventions in the Arab world and Latin America ? Would 9/11 have been prevented ?
Well, clearly the Arab world would be far more peaceful if it wasnt for meddling imperialism – but this bid to contain the Arab world has existed since Lord Curzon (then the British Foreign Secretary) declared the need for an “..Arab Façade ruled and administered under British guidance and controlled by a native Mohammedan and, as far as possible, by an Arab staff..”. You only have to look at the installation and then dispatching of Saddam Hussein to see this plan is still in effect. As for Latin America – just watch ‘The War On Democracy’ by John Pilger (link above).
Concerning 911 – it would have been best avoided if the CIA had never existed. Primarily because they planned and executed it themselves !
As a bonus track on this free EP you added a remix you did for Solefald from Norway. Not much information is known about this remix, can you provide us some ? Why did you decide to add it as a bonus track ?
Well – exactly for that reason, and that it was recorded just after the EP. I had supposed to of mixed a track for Cornelius Jackheln’s project Sturmgeist, but the track just didn’t excite me at all. Then I found out about the Solefald remix album, so I asked to do that instead. Quite a few folks got tuned into The Bombs Of Enduring Freedom after that, saying it was the top remix on that album. It’s hardly going to be heard any other way (other than buying the CD “The Circular Drain” or going to the Solefald myspace where it was the track at the top of their player for over a year – gaining 30,000 + plays).
Got any final words for the readers ? What can we expect of The Bombs of Enduring Freedom in the future ?
You are to eagerly expect even more tales of destruction, media regurgitation and sentiment inflammation. Work is slowly beginning on what may prove to be the most contentious release thus far ! Eat the rich and don’t let the bastards grind ya down…
Interview by: Gerardo, answered by James Fogarty - November 2009.
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