Italy’s RITUAL Magazine interviews Zoog Von Rock from Angelspit about their album HELLO MY NAME IS.
” I wanted to challenge myself with HELLO MY NAME IS. I wanted to make something that truly mattered – more than just art, but something political that reflected our time. I wanted to push our lyrical and musical boundaries – I wanted to write lyrics that related to everyone of us.”
– Zoog Von Rock
Where are you located nowadays?
ZOOG: Right now I’m in LA. We’re currently touring the USA. I live in New York City…I absolutely LOVE IT!
Eleven new tracks for another cool Angelspit’s release. What were your proposal behind ‘Hello My Name Is’? Can we consider it as a natural progression after ‘Hideous And Perfect’?
ZOOG: I wanted to challenge myself with this album. I wanted to make something that truly mattered – more than just art, but something political that reflected our time. I wanted to push our lyrical and musical boundaries – I wanted to write lyrics that related to everyone of us. I wrote most of the lyrics in a cafe near a very busy train station in New York City. I would watch people hurry to work, all of them with a dead look in their eyes, tiredness in their soul. This is where the theme came from…
Destroyx and I came up with the concept of “The Occult of the Corporation”. I wrote a lyric “If God is money, then I am The Devil”…and we wanted to explore this. For many people, corporate existence is the new church that demands our devotion. It threatens damnation if you turn your back on it. Ask yourself: What would really happen if you lost your faith and strayed from the suited flock?
Personally, I think you’d probably start having a life.
The album was recorded and co-produced with Alan Labiner at Secret Weapon, New York. Alan has a fresh approach to recording and producing. His ideas greatly shaped the sound of ‘Hello My Name Is’.
This album was very long process where I need to insure the quality of each song. I always need to be open to new ideas and “happy accidents”.
With each album, I design and build new instruments – either electronic or acoustic. My knowledge of instrument building is very limited so the instruments are very experimental and prone to being destroyed (!!)…they make the coolest sounds when they break or go up in flames…!
On ‘Hello My Name Is” I built mostly electronic instruments from old arcade video games. I also collaborated with Chris Kling to construct an industrial drum kit using garbage cans and random metal. IT ROCKED!
Alan Labiner, the album’s co-producer, also built a massive audio effects unit the size of a double bed (called a “plate reverb”). Alan’s plate reverb added a thick and lush sound to the album – it’s absolutely unique because it’s not a software plug-in or commercially available effects unit – it’s a hand built one-off.
On ‘Hello My Name Is’ I put more effort into melody, emotion, scope of sound, and raw energy! Some tracks are very electro, some tracks are very heavy. Some tracks are gentle, some tracks are extremely harsh. We worked hard to make this album as diverse as possible, but still have Angelspit’s distinctive sound running through all of it.
We used Dangerousdolly.com to create beautiful images of “Corporate Saints” being slain and martyred. Destroyx covered the artwork with hand written text – it looks like a suicide note from a psychotic worker who goes on an office killing spree.
The images and music are all about the frustration that is building within us. Since we can’t figure out a solution to our global work issue, we have instead built a bazaar cult that numbs us and rewards us with ruin.
Even though Angelspit embrace technology, on your website you advise people not to spend time on the internet because it causes ‘artistic procrastination’…
ZOOG: HELL YEAH! The internet was supposed to offer information and inspiration…instead it offers trivia and apathy.
They who will not be distracted, will WIN.
How did you meet Valerie Gentile and Chris Kling first time?
Zoog: I met them at the Vampire Freaks festival in New York City last September. Valerie (guitars) and Chris (drums) were picked because of their solid reputation. We held a competition to choose our video-jammer – and the winner was a video artist who goes by the name “The Lair”. We are now joined live by Matt James – he’s a wild drummer. Matt will be working with us on future recordings.
The new sound is brutal! It’s manic…MANIC! Live is sooo much fun now! We try and smash out a sound combining hardcore punk and electro/industrial. It’s great fun!
We have insane lights and projections, but the best part is the on-stage chaos. We just love performing and GOING OFF!
The Liar, Angelspit’s Video-Jammer, mixes web footage with several cameras set up around the stage. He mixes the video live and streams it, while Destroyx, Valerie (guitars) and Matt (drums) and I go wild onstage. It’s the brutal fun!!
Are you close to industrial scenery roots or do you feel more comfortable with cyberpunk community?
ZOOG: If you say CYBERPUNK, I think anonymous and hacking. If you say Industrial, I think suspension and hardcore body manipulation.
There is a new wave of dark culture emerging…it does not fit into the accepted definition of “goth/industrial/cyber”. It has much more to do with politics and less to do with goggles and VU-reactive club wear.
The future will match the brutality of the present!
The industrial scene is currently suffering a stagnation caused by so many bands copying each other. Is Angelspit the solution to our problems?
ZOOG: Absolutely! I WANT people to copy us! I want people to watch our Blipverts and talk to us online. I want them to take our idea and use them to form their own. Take our ideas and develop them!!
I want people to remove the formula and replace it with FUCK YOU.
You recently launched a new clothing line. Please give us more details about it. Then, what are your tastes in terms of fashion and clothing design? Please give us a few interesting names…
ZOOG: We are starting to work with other designers and getting them to rework our visual ideas, similar to how a band would remix our track.
We want to push our style and bounce our ideas off other designers.
You seem to be very popular in the fetish scene. Do you feel connected in that scene?
ZOOG: Absolutely! The Fetish clubs we’ve been to make such an effort to celebrate the many sides of beauty.
What’s your worst obsession?
ZOOG: Modular Synthesizers. They have a wonderful design and are pleasing to touch and manipulate. They are machines for carving the air into beautiful shapes – in the form of sound.
…but they are expensive and very heavy!
As previously mentioned, I am regularly building new musical instruments. The main instrument on ‘Hello My Name Is’ was built from an 80’s arcade controller parts. It has a genuine space invaders joystick plus several buttons and knobs. This instrument allows me to interface with my Doepfer Modular Synthesizer in a completely new way – I can very quickly route signals around, modulate, mutate and destroy sound! I can route synthesizers, drums, guitars or vocals through it. The only think I can compare it to is dubstep…but it’s much dirtier and meaner!
I keep track of my experiments on my blog:
http://angelspit.net/zoog/
I really loved your Toxic Girl clip. How was the experience? Are you gonna shooting another video in the next weeks?
ZOOG: We are already talking to Tamas Mesmer, the director of Toxic Girl, to work on another video with us.
We are also shooting a lot of live and “on-tour” video for the tour.
Do you choose the black pill or the red one?
ZOOG: The black one…it looks sexier…!
‘Counterfeit’ and ‘Vermin’ are totally huge. What’s the meaning of these songs?
ZOOG: Counterfeit is about the daily grind of work….and how that day turns into a week, which becomes a year…and before you know it you’re thirty-something wondering where your life went.
It is about how you work until you are exhausted, but yield nothing and ultimately lose everything.
“The Great wrought, You’ve been swindled, you bought it, Lift up your scars!”
Vermin mixes the Fibonacci sequence, Einstein’s theory of Colony Collapse, plus cheer-leaders…AND it contains the co-ordinates to Area 51 in the bleeping sounds. Vermin’s got the answers to the Universe in it.
What do you mean with “Glamour is made of a substance called incredibly hard fucking work”?
ZOOG: If you have a dream, you need to work VERY hard to make it into a reality. I encourage you to peruse it with every drop of energy.
My main philosophy is : “You are better than this”. I believe creativity has been bored out of our mindset. The simple are of painting, sculpting or making music is being replaced with grazing on computer games or procrastinating on the internet. Though creative hobbies, comes creative thinking. Through creative thinking comes new solutions to improving your life.
Phrases like “I am bored” and “my life sucks” are usually uttered close together. Get active. Entertain your brain!
ROCK!
Zoog Von Rock.
Website :: http://www.angelspit.net
Twitter :: http://twitter.com/angelspit
Facebook :: http://www.facebook.com/angelspitmusic
MySpace :: http://www.myspace.com/angelspitmusic
Vampire Freaks :: http://vampirefreaks.com/u/angelspit
Forum :: http://www.krankhaus.net/forum/
Youtube :: http://www.youtube.com/user/krankhaus
Sound Cloud :: http://soundcloud.com/angelspit
Band Camp :: http://listn.to/angelspit
www.ritual-magazine.com
