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Interview conducted
in August 2003
LATEST RELEASE:
"WAT" |
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| |  | |    | | By Stéphane Leguay | | Photos all rights reserved |
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Six years after their last album "Jesus Christ Superstars", Laibach finally makes a come back. And like each time, we were curious to discover the new aspirations of the sulphurous "fab four" of Ljubljana, Slovenia. After the Caligula-like pop-metal of "Jesus Christ Superstars" and the disco-blue beret of "NATO", they offer us "WAT" an album with martial bpm and Wagner-like emphasis, another opus to add to the huge discography of the band. The following interview is allusive, enigmatic and impersonal at the image of this special band who links music and politic, art and black humour.
Laibach has been very silent since the latest album "Jesus Christ Superstars" in 96. What did you do during this long period?
We did Rammstein.
You come back today with a brand new album "WAT", which is really different from the previous one "Jesus Christ Superstars", very oriented-guitars which was itself very different from the synthetic aspects of "NATO": when you work on an album, what decides you to jump from one musical style to another?
The coin decides. As we mix and unite people of all social, cultural and political genres together, we also mix and unite music of all styles and genres.
Are the concepts leading the choice of the musical direction?
Basically yes. For WAT we used digital beat precision of the real time.
And what is the concept of "WAT"?
Time and everything that constructs it.
On the official NSK website, there was a forum where several fans submited their interpretation for the title "WAT" ("We Are Time"); "War Against Terrorism" seemed then to be largely plebiscited.
We didn't exactly have that in mind but it is absolutely relevant and possible if one believes in it. This title fits perfectly, almost too perfectly when you consider the last events in USA, Afghanistan and Iraq, especially knowing that most of songs were written two or three years ago... But we take all of this as a compliment; maybe those different advices will help us to determine a deeper meaning of this record.
The song Tanz mit Laibach stands obviously as the "hit-single" of this new album; do you want to conquer dancefloors and clubs with this song?
Dance floors, clubs, rave parties, fire brigade meetings, political rallies, football stadiums, family gatherings, kindergartens, funeral processions.
This song reminds me of Der Mussolini by DAF, a band you've once covered (the song Alle gegen alle) on the "NATO" album; is it another hidden tribute to that band?
It is a song inspired by the German - American friendship. (ndlr, initials of DAF mean Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaf…).
The song Reject or Breed, which is on the promo CD of "WAT", won't be on the final version; would it be because of its radical and without-compromise lyrics?
It will only be published on the final vinyl version; It was rejected from the CD because it didn't breed. Reject or Breed is the act of eternal rape. "Tempus edax rectum" (the original latin version is "Tempus Edax Rerum" -ndlr)
About the song Anti-Semitism, don't you fear that there could be once again a misunderstanding, a wrong interpretation? It sounds like a new provocation…
Is that a problem? There is no solution if there is no problem. Every interpretation about this song will be correct.
It seems like provocation and humour takes a big part in your art... Can we link this approach with artistic movements like Dada?
Only through its negation. Our humor is a deadly serious one. We only practice humor which cannot take a joke.
Are you still the target of censorship today?
Not directly, but some promoters in France, for instance, did tell us that they better don't organize our concerts, because they won't get permissions for them.
From your Slovenian point of view, how do you consider the evolution in the Balkans since the end of the war?
In Laibach we do not practice the « Slovenian point of view ». From our point of view, Balkan is the future of Europe. During this war, nations in Balkan were victims and prisoners of the idea of the EU segregation and the conflict in ex Yugoslavia gave a clear lecture to Europe of what can happen if the differences are not respected and problems resolved in time and if the smallest in community are not taken seriously. From Laibach point of view the whole Europe has the blood of Balkan on their hands.
Do the 92-95 war still stigmatise your work today?
Every war stigmatizes our work. And peace as well.
After almost 20 years of existence, did the NSK (Neue Slowenische Kunst, a collective of Slovenian artists which became in 1994 a real virtual state with its passports and its embassies…) satisfy all the hopes you put on it? Do you still consider this virtual state as a prototype for a better society?
We never said that. Society is as good as it gets. The NSK state is only a prototype for a better coping with society.
Your new album will be commercialized with a very modern security system that will allow the label to trace back the duplicated discs onto any formats: what do you think of such proceedings? Our society seems to drift more and more towards the ultra security paranoïa...
There is no security without fear; fear keeps people together; it organizes their daily life within a certain community and it keeps them apart from other social groups, turns them against each other. The idea of an individual and collective security is an old concept and the economy of fear has always been a driving force behind the effective control of ancient and modern totalitarian systems. But it has never conditioned itself on such virtual conceptions as today.
Isn't it a bit paradoxal for a band like Laibach, who is well known for its independence?
Independence is a paradoxical matter per se. | | | | | | | |
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