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Fast-rising industrial L.A star Daniel Graves - aka Aesthetic Perfection - has been hard at work defying the machine-music stereotype of one-man bedroom bands this year, honing a visceral assault of a stage show in enviable support slots across the globe with his onstage partners in crime Tim Van Horn (drums) and Tom Napack (keys). As the road trip reached London during a first European headline run, SinZine heard how it's all paying off for Graves.
He's released four albums (one under the name Necessary Response) and a steady stream of remix work (including Lady Gaga and Katy Perry), as well as a string of tours supporting the likes of Combichrist, SITD and Imperative Reaction. We caught up with Daniel Graves before Aesthetic Perfection’s recent headline show at Electrowerkz to see how he's finding life on the road.
How's the tour going?
So far so good - we’re really humbled and excited to be able to start out first ever European headlining tour here in the UK. So far the response has been overwhelmingly positive.
And how are you finding the UK so far?
I think wherever you go, when you find people who are passionate about music, it's universal. So, really all the shows have been great, really enthusiastic crowds - a lot of fun.
Last time we saw you, you were opening for Combichrist and now you’re top of the bill - I’m guessing there’s been a lot of hard work to get you there?
We tour hard, we work hard, we party hard! Like I said, it’s really humbling that we get to come out and headline and have people turn up to see our shows. What we’ve worked so hard to achieve... the last couple of years we’ve toured relentlessly and a lot of our exposure we can thank Combichrist for. We’ve toured with them about five times. It’s been pretty relentless the last three years, but we’re happy with where we’re at. We’re not going to stop, we’re going to keep going another three years, another three years - you know, no end...
Talking about Combichrist - Andy was recently telling SinZine about how he’d taken the decision to forget the record labels to a certain extent and build a career the way he wanted to. I see a lot of the same thing with your work - is that something deliberate?
I think that it’s really important when you know what you want to do with your life and with your art that you stay focussed on that and you don’t ever lose sight of it. You always have to be a bit mindful of what labels say, and that kind of stuff, but you can’t lose sight of the main goal and what you want to do. You should compromise the tiniest bit, like maybe 1%, but really - Andy’s right You have to set your sights on what you want and not deviate from that. That’s kind of what I’ve been doing the last few years - once I set it in my mind, ‘You want to be a musician’, that’s all I’ve been doing since then.
There’s quite a difference between making electronic music and taking it out on the road - has touring influenced what you create or how you perform your music?
It’s hard to put a finger on it, but I would have to say undoubtedly yes. As an artist you always take in the whole of your existence and try to filter that into what you’re writing. So, yes - I could never specifically say ‘touring has made me do this’, but I have no doubt in my mind that all the touring we’ve done and all the experience we’ve gained from it has definitely influenced what I’ve been writing the last few years.
How do you gear up for live performance? Is there much you have to change?
Not really - some people say if it’s not totally different live then you might as well listen to the CD at home, but I think its more about the experience, the connection with the people. When I go to a concert I don’t want to hear something completely different from what I’ve grown to love; when I see a band if they change it completely live then I’m actually a bit disappointed. We do everything that we can live, as much as is possible for an electronic band, but you need to stay as true to the studio recordings as possible. That’s my own personal taste.
What do you do to build that connection with the audience?
It’s a very abstract idea - I go out, I look people in the eye, feel their reaction and that influences what I do. It’s like you’re doing it with the people rather than just performing as if they weren’t there - it’s about interacting with them as much as possible.
Obviously, this tour is in support of your new album. I get a strong sense of elements drawn from the last three albums, but I know that response has been mixed...
I think that’s totally true. From the beginning I’ve always wanted to make a record that’s very dynamic, very up and down - from punching you in the face to sitting alone in a room with silence. These types of images are what were in my mind. When I first started out I was feeling like I had to fit a mould. My first record, I was purposely sitting down thinking 'right, I have to write music that sounds like this'. But I still had it in my mind, that I wanted to do something that was dynamic. So I had these Aesthetic Perfection tracks and these Necessary Response tracks that were vastly different, but they were still part of me.
So, ever since I split those two projects - I made A Violent Emotion, which I felt stepped towards this direction... I told myself, you just need to go for it, and make the record that you feel like you have to make, and for yourself, and not feel you have to fit any mould or fit any goal other than just to be as honest as possible. I’d say that All Beauty Destroyed is definitely my most honest record and with the mixed reviews - I’m actually revelling in the hate that I’m getting for it.
I did notice that one persons comment had made it into a Facebook post from you...
It’s great - at least I made you feel something, you have a real reaction to it.
It’s interesting that a lot of people have this idea that a band or a name means one thing...
It’s always funny the way people view artists and bands. Based on some of the reactions, that people feel personally offended by the record. It’s like - wow!
It’s nice that people care that much about what you do...
Yeah, it feels good - if I elicit any sort of strong response in any direction I feel like I’ve done something right because the death of art in my mind is mediocrity. So, if I get someone who absolutely loves the record I’m just as happy if someone says ‘I fucking hate it, it makes me want to retch’. This strong disdain, it’s great... great.
There’s a really strong vein of song-writing in your music, from Necessary Response to the Aesthetic Perfection albums...
I try not to say, this is what I want to do - just the kind of writing what comes out. In a way, I did want to guide the album towards being more about songs and less about the dance song structure. I like music that feels like you want to move, not necessarily designed to fit some sort of club structure but it was really important to me to push my limits in terms of song writing and song structure. I think that a good song is timeless, and that’s something that’s really important to me.
There are always remixes for club versions, anyway - you do so much remix work that you must be owed some favours by now...
Over the last few years I did so many remixes - I’ve got a list on my computer, like that guy owes me a remix, and that guy... Let’s call them all.
Are you looking to officially release something?
I’d be interested in exploring a remix CD. Of course a lot of things are up in the air, but I’d like to explore what else I can do with the record. A lot of people may hate me for saying this, but I like how a lot of pop bands are releasing companions to their albums - an EP with a couple of new songs, a couple of remixes and then repackaging the album and releasing it again a year or two later. I like that stuff.
Maybe something along the lines of Mesh’s An Alternative Solution?
Yeah, things like that are really cool and I always like hearing the way people reinterpret something which in my mind would be impossible to reinterpret. Because I’ve spent so many years working on it, I see it as it is.
Do you see remix work as a musical challenge then? How do you approach it?
Of course - I think a good remix is always a reinterpretation of a song, and the best remixes are ones which change it as much as possible. I really like doing stuff like that - thats why I do all the pop remixes. They’re fun, it’s an exercise in production - I love it, I really do.
Finally, what’s next?
Surprisingly, I’ve got so much new material done - I can’t even believe it. Once I’d finished All Beauty Destroyed I just kept working, I was in this kind of groove. Now I’ve got 7 or 8 songs that are nearly complete. I don’t know if it makes sense to release a whole new full length album in 2012, less than a year after All Beauty Destroyed, but I’m going to keep writing, keep touring. I’m just really focussed on music, I love it a lot.
And more touring ahead of you?
We’re working on US tours, we’re hoping to get back to Australia. I love being on the road as much as I possibly can. I just gives you the opportunity to share the music, to connect with people. Touring and playing music live brings it to life for me. I don’t listen to my music it home, it’s like the catharsis is over for me and now it belongs to the world. When I get to perform it live I feel the energy of people who connect with it and it brings it back to life for me. It’s amazing - I want to keep doing it; keep touring, keep writing. Music all the time!
All Beauty Destroyed is out now on Out of Line records. Find out more at www.aesthetic-perfection.net
Scoll right down for the official music video 'The Great Depression' or visit YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SAA5XCdUe1Q ('Inhuman' - official music video)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4Rpxau2iXk (Aesthetic Perfection remix for Lady Gaga's 'Love Game')
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{} {/}Andy LaPlegua : on the cross-over appeal of Combichrist
Written by Annette Parkington
Taking the name 'Combichrist' from his old hardcore punk fanzine, and today maintaining passion for guitar music (not to mention a knack for memorable monikers) with psychobilly side project Scandinavian Cock, Andy LaPlegua has always been an anomaly in the industrial arena. Increasingly, Combichrist are now becoming an anomalous mainstay of the mainstream metal press, as tours with Rammstein, collaborations with the likes of Bleeding Through and the addition of live guitars endear them to a wider audience away from the industrial underground. As LaPlegua tells SinZine though, he's not about to forget his roots, and is even reuniting Icon of Coil early next year.
This year you've released the Throat Full of Glass EP, as well as touring extensively. What have been some of the highlights?
Umm.. highlights…there are so many highlights that the only highlight that comes to mind was when there was none anymore, when you just got home after all this touring. Sometimes you just truly, truly enjoy what happened on tour the most when you come back home after all this touring and you get to sit down and actually process everything.
Just being on tour and just doing what we're doing or what we have been doing. This year has been the highlight of the most recent history of Combichrist for sure, it's been something magical within the band and just onstage and everything. It's been a good run.
You seem ready & willing to play anywhere - just in London you've recently played Wembley, the Electric Ballroom, Electrowerkz and Koko - hugely different venues. Many bands baulk at the tiny clubs when they've been on larger stages, but not you...
The first show we ever did in London was at the Electric Ballroom many, many years ago. After we did Wembley we were like it would be cool to play the first place we ever played here and just do something more intimate, just where we started kind of thing.
Every now and then it's cool to do stuff like this, but you soon realise it's taking a lot out of you to do stuff like this, because you have to cut down on your production, you have to do this, you have to do that and we have a pretty big crew at this point, sometimes it causes more problems than it causes anything else, but it was definitely a lot of fun doing it.
A lot of the people running that place have been good friends of mine since we were there first time around. It was good to just see everybody and see that it's still going the way it was going back then too.
You used to write you own 'Zine, and were involved in your local scene - how did this affect your music and attitude going forward?
The basic idea of it is what makes everything, I've always done this with a passion for what I'm doing, I've never done this for any other reason. The only reason why I was able to do it for a living is because I did it so much. I had to choose - should I do this part time or should I do this all the time. We didn't change anything, we never changed anything.
I honestly don't know, there are definitely people who would say we did get more commercial, but we never did it on purpose to be more commercial. In fact a lot of the stuff we're doing now is way harder musically than it was when we started up.
"You changed so much", but there never was a big change because every release was different, every release had something different to it, it amazes me that people are still surprised when we make a little change on the next album because we have done since the beginning.
I think that the biggest trap somebody can do is if they stick to the one song. Somebody has a club hit and they'll stick to that one sound and try to copy that song over and over again and do it on every album and finally they realise that it's not working anymore so they try to change things around and then suddenly they have this big change in their sound and everybody will be complaining.
I just always did exactly what I wanted to do and not what people expected me to do and maybe that's the reason why we were able to continue, touring all the time and having a growing fan base - people know that the integrity is there regardless of what we're doing, regardless of how much we change, the integrity is there. We're doing what we want to do.
KOBARU.PL
Listening to the Combichrist albums there's a noticeable progression in style, from the straighter dancefloor tracks of Joy of Gunz through to the big songs and choruses of Making Monsters…
When I did the first Combichrist album it was hardly influenced by anything, I just wanted to do something completely different, it was very experimental for me. But the more I write, the more I do with Combichrist, more of my past comes up and influences me, and a lot more of the things I used to do and used to like. It kind of comes back, and it comes back naturally to me, and as it comes up I kind of just keep adding it to the music.
I think that's why they kind of have that natural progression, because it just came up piece by piece from the things that I didn't allow myself to do in one way to do, it kind of comes back and it feels right to do it.
Behind the anger, there's a real tongue in cheek feel to a lot of your music - it always sounds like you're biting back a smile. Tell me more...
I don't know what it is but there's a thing in my life, where the happier I am as a person the more aggressive I like the music, which is a really bizarre thing, but that's just how it is. If I'm in a really bad mood I'm not going to feel sorry for myself and put on depressing music, I just try and snap out of it. If I'm in a really good mood I'm going to put on… I don't know why but aggression makes me happy, it's a strange thing to say but it does, there's something about the power of aggression that just makes me happy and I guess when something is very aggressive I guess it does put a smile to my face.
It's almost as if you are kicking back at the music business, by doing what you want to do the way you want to do it and then finding success like that.
It's definitely something to do with that too. I mean I approached a lot of people and a lot of labels, a lot of booking agents or promoters or magazines or anything else. I approached a lot of people in the beginning and they were basically very rude really, not being friendly about it or nothing. Same thing I was playing with the other people, other bands and everybody thought they knew so much better than me what to do, and we never got anywhere with it. So that's why I finally went like you know what I'm just going to do everything myself.
So that's why I started up doing all the writing, doing all the production, all the recording, doing everything, to the point where I did all the artwork, all the promotion; to the point where I did all the booking myself, the management myself and it was a really good feeling to be able to kind of flip off everybody, and go I did this myself, you didn't believe in me.
I just continued doing what I wanted to do, and here I am, and now you show peoples true colours, it's like a lot of the same people are now approaching me, and be like "we'd love to work with you, one day, we'd love to do this". You know, I did all the work, there's really no free ride on this, you had your chance to work with me. There's a lot of satisfaction in being completely independent, not only as an artist and musician, but also building my career with it at the same time.
GILI SHANI
You know that you did everything on your own, so you are able to stand by what you've done and all the decisions you have made.
Exactly.
What's next for you? More Combichrist, a new project or are we going to see more of Scandy or Panzer AG?
We'll see, I do have a rock and roll/ punk rock band called Scandinavian Cock which is the one band that I am playing a lot with right now. We don't do many shows but we do a lot of rehearsals and a lot of writing. Its completely different from Combichrist because we are five people, we all put everything into it, we show up a couple of times a week and we go into a rehearsal room and play rock and roll.
Are you going to progress that more, possibly going to start touring at some point and hopefully bring it to the UK?
Whenever it feels right we definitely will. I want to do it the right way, I don't want to take any short cuts. I could try to announce it through the Combichrist fan base and try to do more of a short cut to get an instant audience to see if it would work out, but I want to do it right. I want to do it for the music and not for the success of it, so whenever that time comes.
Scandy, Panzer and Icon of Coil and all those things are more or less on ice for me, if not done. I do shows every now and then if the time is right and only if it fits in, but production wise and the ideas for it is more or less on ice, there are other things in my life now that are more important. I got other things to do, that's all, not that I don't have time for it.
I'm also doing a lot of Combichrist stuff still, I'm working in the studio right now. I'm literally in the studio right now! I'm working on a video game, the soundtrack for a video game as Combichrist and I'm doing some more soundtracks for some movies coming up.
What video game are you doing the soundtrack for?
Devil May Cry
That's a huge series...
Yeah, that's definitely a lot of fun to be working with that.
How are you finding it?
It's very interesting and it's a lot of fun because; I'm used to basing things on my own creations, my own moods, my own fantasy and my own characters and now I'm kind of setting a tune to somebody else's character and somebody else's story line. It definitely makes things different, and since it's a video game I'll do everything it takes to make it feel right for the game and not for the band, so there is a lot of stuff that in there that I would never have used for Combichrist but for a game it just makes perfect sense.
Its been announced that Icon of Coil are headlining Sheffield's Resistanz festival next April - how does it feel to play with Sebastian & Christian again?
It's always amazing to see those guys, we do play maybe one, two shows a year every now and then, but that's the only time I ever see them. It's always a special occasion getting back together and it makes the show that much better and more fun to play too. We're still really tight; we do stay in touch but all three of us are really busy with our own things and we just never have time to catch up except for these shows, so it's always a great time.
GILI SHANI
I know you did meet & greet tickets on the US tour, so what's it like meeting the fans?
It was really cool. We've done this on a couple of tours and the main reason that we did it in the first place was we used to be, how can I put it, a very social band. We'd always go to the after parties, we'd always hang out with our friends and the fans, and friends that are fans and fans that are friends.
The busier we got the harder it was to actually get anything in there because, you know, you set up and you do press all day and then you do the show and it's just get ready and get into the bus and get to the next place, to the point where we felt we were loosing a little bit of touch with the fans on a personal level.
Joey our drummer actually came up with the idea of doing this, and we thought it was a great idea to try it out and it became quite successful in a way that we had a lot of fun meeting people, hanging out with people, seeing people before the show. Meeting a lot of people we wouldn't ever of met if we were going to the parties and stuff like this.
Hopefully we got to give something back to the fans that are more keen to get something extra than the most regular fans, like we did the passes, we did the shirts, the posters, we did some extra stuff. That was quite fun.
Finally - anything else you'd like to say?
Not really, I appreciate that people have the interest in the band. If anything I'd just like to tell the fans we are doing this…still doing this because you guys allow us to and we will never forget that. Its a big honour for us to have such a wonderful fan base, that's the only reason we can still do this.
Thanks again for talking to us.
Icon of Coil will be headlining the Resistanz festival in Sheffield, on Sunday April 8th, 2012.
Visit www.combichrist.com
Scroll down to see the "Throat full of Glass" video (uncensored version)
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{} {/}
As Club Antichrist prepares for September 2nd when it will host ‘Night of the Vampires’, Concrete Lung, an Industrial Metal band, is ready to take the stage armed with an attitude and sound that’ll rattle your fillings and shake the AC walls. Following a successful year with a highly-rated album and live show, we talk with Concrete Lung’s Ed Oxime and William Riever, who tell us that music is something they can’t get enough of… along with hard liquor!
Your debut album ’Versions of Hell’ was released in February, are you happy with how it was received?
Ed: Yes - 8/10 in Rock Sound and 7.5/10 in Terrorizer so we were pretty happy with that, we have sold a lot of copies of it and was well received on our tour too.
Will: Yes, we were pretty happy. We have managed to get some good press and a fair amount of attention from our existing fans and a lot of new fans.
Tell us how you arrived at the record‘s title; what does it mean to you?
Ed: It just came to me - I wrote it down and decided to use it as the title of the album. I wanted to conjure up the image of hell as a modern day renaissance painting, only with music...
What track of your is your favourite and why?
Ed: ‘Flux’ from 'Versions of Hell'. Not sure really, I wrote it when I was 17 (I'm er, a lot older now), and it is a song that has stuck with me for a while and a song I have re-recorded a few times over the years. It's not teenage angst or anything like that, it has just kind of stood the test of time with me. Another version of it will appear on our next album....
Will: I don't really have a favourite from the albums, I see them as just that albums and not individual songs. I guess I feel like that about most albums that I enjoy.....When we play live, I always enjoy playing 'Breathe In The Monochrome'. I love the intensity of it and we have used it as a great opener plenty of times. Off 'Versions of Hell', it is 'Flux' and 'Suicide High Rise' for the craziness of sounds that we produce live and the way I feel when we play them.
In short, how would you describe your music?
Ed: Rock Sound magazine described it as 'grey as fuck' which is pretty accurate.
Will: Hard, dark - straight to the point!
What shapes and inspires the style of Concrete Lung’s music?
Ed: Bleak urban life, the darker side of life, conveying messages of, 'this is how it is'....Not necessarily ‘this is how it should be..…’
Will: The music is a reflection of what we see around us on a daily basis and we reflect in music the way that makes us feel.
When you’re not carrying out ‘corrosive sonic assault’ with your music what do you love doing?
Will: I help others create and record their music. More music, it's never enough.
Ed: Yes music mainly. And drinking...
So we now know what Versions of Hell means to you. What about Concrete Lung, where does that come from?
Ed: It’s what I summed up London to be after being here for a few weeks...It reflects many of the world’s cities I guess....and the music is about our surroundings...
You’ve played Infest. Do you prefer playing for festivals or smaller venues with your core fan base?
Ed: Smaller the venue the better really. When you play bigger gigs you know that most of the crowd are not there to see you, you get better response at smaller gigs. But then a the bigger gigs you can get yourself out to a wider potential fan base....
Will: I pretty much just like playing, I put everything into it regardless of whether it is us headlining, doing a support slot or playing a festival.
What are your plans for the next year?
Ed: We are going to release another full length album - but this time it is to a very limited edition; no downloads, no previews - just 100 copies with quality packaging...
Will: Yeh, Hopefully we will have at least one release next year, possibly more. I guess it really depends on how much time we have. Hopefully we'll be doing more festivals next year but, certainly we will be doing more gigs.
Finally, you’re playing at Club AntiChrist on Friday - what can we expect from the Concrete Lung live show?
Will: Energy, aggression with punk attitude and a destructive sound to match.
Ed: We are not an all singing all dancing entertainment cabaret, we are here to inform not entertain.
