Tag: Rhys Fulber

AESTHETIC PERFECTION: The Industrial Pop Interview

17 May 2021 /


Los Angeles-born, Austrian-based artist Daniel Graves is the main man behind AESTHETIC PERFECTION.

It’s an industrial pop project that can veer in and out of electro, EBM, goth, alternative rock, metal and aggrotech, thanks to Graves’ love of artists such as diverse as Justin Timberlake, Darren Hayes, Michael Jackson, David Bowie, Trent Reznor and Marilyn Manson.

Following 2019’s ‘Into The Black’ album, Graves announced a 2021 schedule of releasing one AESTHETIC PERFECTION single per month funded by his Patreon supporters. It is a return of sorts to Graves’ singles only experiment of 2016-2018 which allowed him the freedom to broaden his vocal and production horizons, with the result being one of the best recordings of his career in ‘Rhythm + Control’.

The most recent single ‘Gravity’ has been produced by Rhys Fulber of FRONT LINE ASSEMBLY. It reflects on Graves’ struggles to keep his feet on the ground as he loses touch with reality, crushed beneath the weight of existence, while slowly being pulled away from it. It’s a feeling that many can relate to.

Daniel Graves gave another enlightening interview to ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK about the future of music and how he is responding to an ever changing market place.

After your singles experiment of 2016-2018 which included ‘LAX’, ‘Love Like Lies’, ‘Rhythm + Control’ and ‘Ebb & Flow’, you produced an album ‘Into The Black’ in 2019. And now you are back with a run of singles at a rate of one per month, why have you returned to this “singles” format?

I’ve always believed the singles format to be the way of the future. From an artistic point of view, I looked at the creation of ‘Into The Black’ kind of like a commission; as if I were a sculptor or painter. It wasn’t something I would have created had I been left on my own, but I enjoyed the process and am happy with the result.

That doesn’t mean I think the way forward is albums. If anything, the pandemic has accelerated the streaming and singles model. I’m watching my friends and colleagues absolutely devastated because the records they’ve been releasing in the last 12-14 months get no traction. The social media timeline turns over every 3-4 weeks, and in order to stay in the public consciousness, you’ve gotta keep up.

So how do you look back on ‘Into The Black’, the pros and cons of making it and then the promotion after?

Working on ‘Into The Black’ was a lot of fun, and I did enjoy the singular focus that takes place when trying to complete a big project. I wasn’t on social media trying to promote myself or worrying about tours or any of the ancillary stuff that comes with being an independent musician – I was just locked into the creative mindset.

However, that’s a double edged sword, because you’re not really seeing what’s going on in the world around you. I feel like great artists know how to “read the room” and figure out how their voice fits into the world at large. That’s hard to do when you’ve got your nose buried in a big project.

The promotional aspect is very difficult, because even before the pandemic, “the churn” as I like to call it, moves quickly. You’ve only got a small window of time to drum up interest in your project, and getting people to sit down and consume (and digest) 10 new songs is an impossible task. Back when you could tour, there was some amount of wiggle room, as live shows gave you the opportunity to showcase that new music, and continually remind the world you exist. However, these days, you’ve got your couple weeks and then the door closes.

Do you think your very eclectic music tastes are partly contributing to your mindset to not lock AESTHETIC PERFECTION into any one style or ethos?

I grew up on artists like NINE INCH NAILS and David Bowie and Michael Jackson… artists who continually evolved and took risks. I sort of just assumed that’s what you did when you were a creator. As I got older and more involved in music, I found myself quickly losing interest in bands and artists who didn’t evolve. It shaped my entire creative worldview and made evolution a part of my artistic DNA. Whether or not that helps success or hinders it is anyone’s guess. Perhaps in an alternate universe where I’d stayed the course and rehashed ‘A Violent Emotion’ for the last 12 years, I’d be a megastar!


The first single of the schedule ‘S E X’ has a wonderfully deviant tone about it?

I don’t often write songs about sex. I was never sure why until I started writing ‘S E X’. As a creator, I’ve always tried to say things that I haven’t heard from other artists… or I at least try to add new perspectives to subjects and themes.

I suspect, on a subconscious level, I was never inspired to write about sex because so many other artists were doing it. You can’t turn on the radio without hearing a song about sex… so what could I possibly have to offer that would add to the conversation?

However, at some point, I realized that even though there are tons of songs out there about sex, there aren’t a lot of contemporary songs about love and passion. ‘S E X’ is really my way of trying to capture and express THAT view of sexuality.

‘Party Monster’ is reflective of the approach you took on ‘Rhythm + Control’ with a heavier guitar take, twinned with a more electro version, in this case by Deadbeat?

“Deadbeat” is the de facto moniker I adopt whenever remixing my own songs for the club. If you take a look through my discography, you’ll find a number of Deadbeat remixes (usually of tracks that aren’t clubby by nature). The electro version of ‘Rhythm + Control’ should by rights be referred to as a Deadbeat Remix actually, but it was the original version that was completed before Jinxx came through and cut the guitars (which was really just an afterthought). Technically, the version with the guitars is the remix, but it was just so much better than the “original”!


‘Dead Zone’ is classic industrial pop AESTHETIC PERFECTION, what inspired that track?

I’ve spent a lot of my time in lockdown reflecting on myself, my life, and my work. The endeavor has been simultaneously traumatic and transformative. It feels almost as if I’ve gone into a cocoon, a dead zone, if you will, to work through all these things – hopefully, to emerge on the other side as something better.

With your known love of pop, what have you thought about THE WEEKND’s recent Max Martin produced synth excursions ‘Blinding Lights’ and ‘Save Your Tears’?

To be 100% honest, I’m not as in love with the synthwave vibes of THE WEEKND’s new tracks as I was with his earlier work. I totally understand WHY these songs were produced that way (that style is HUGE right now), but as someone who is not personally a big fan of retro genres, it doesn’t speak to me so much. They’re well-crafted productions with top notch songwriting, but they don’t feel fresh to me.

In my mind, art is about using inspiration from the past to build something new and exciting in the future. Synthwave really is at odds with my musical philosophy in that regard. However, I *do* feel like synthwave is starting to craft its own identity apart from the nostalgia factor. A lot of the offshoot genres like Industrial Bass Music or EBSM are fresh and really getting my attention.


‘Automaton’ and ‘Gravity’ were both produced and mixed by Rhys Fulber of FRONT LINE ASSEMBLY, how did that association come about?

Facebook Messenger! I literally just wrote Rhys a Facebook message asking if he’d be interested in producing some music with me. As luck would have it, we had a number of friends in common and decided to start working on a couple tracks together. I feel like Rhys’s experience with industrial, metal and pop really make him uniquely suited to both understand and help me realize my musical vision. Definitely looking forward to more collaborations in the future.

Will you eventually compile these 12 singles as an album, or perhaps do a compilation including the 2016-2018 work?

Part of the promise of this project was that if I reached a certain number of Patreon supporters, I would collect the singles and release them as an album sometime next year. It was a very ambitious goal, I wasn’t exactly sure if I would be able to hit it. To my surprise (and many others as well) we hit it within 3 months. Which just goes to show how incredible the level of support is from my fans and from my community.

However, I also have no illusions about the state of the music industry. First of all: The world at large does not care about re-releases. They want NEW material and nothing else. Second: The world at large does not care about albums. Both of those things work against my plans, but I think if I do a very small run of physical releases (probably exactly the count of my Patreon supporters so each of them have a chance to get their hands on one) it will be okay. A good artist knows how to read the room, right?

Regarding the singles from 2016-2018: All those singles were already released on the deluxe edition of ‘Into The Black’ in September 2019!

There appears to still be demand for the long playing format, but is it cost effective for you as an independent artist now?

If there’s demand for the LP format, I don’t see it. I see people talking about it online, but I believe those people to be the vocal minority. Like my Facebook page is filled with people demanding I return to the sound and singing style of ’A Violent Emotion’. However, when you look at the actual metrics, like sales and streams and all of that, you see that the silent majority has a different opinion. When observing the actual metrics of CD sales and how LPs perform against singles in the world of streaming, a very clear picture emerges: Albums are losing ground more than ever before.

Again, it’s my job to read the room. So if the trend changes, you can bet I’ll be back on the album horse. However, I currently see no reason to invest months or years of my life into producing an album when people are only gonna listen to one or two songs and have the rest be forgotten in a matter of weeks.

Which is the upcoming single everyone should be looking out for that might spring a surprise?

The single for June is absolutely coming out of leftfield. It’s an AESTHETIC PERFECTION take on the beloved European concept of a “Summer Hit”. I expect a bunch of VERY p*ssed off people! I’m also planning a Christmas song for December so… get ready!

Have you a personal favourite out of this campaign?

‘Party Monster’ and ‘Dead Zone’ I think are great examples of my dedication to both brutal honesty and experimentation within the AESTHETIC PERFECTION framework. They may not be the most popular songs of mine, but they certainly mean the most to me.

Have you been able to make any future plans despite everything, how do you think things will pan out?

I’m an artist. I thrive in chaos. I’ve also learned to make the best of a bad situation. I feel like no matter what happens, I will be ready and willing to face it head on.

ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK gives its warmest thanks to Daniel Graves

‘Gravity’, ‘S E X’, ‘Party Monster’, ‘Automaton’ and ‘Dead Zone’ are available to download, along with the AESTHETIC PERFECTION back catalogue from http://aestheticperfection.bandcamp.com/

Information on Daniel Graves’ Patreon is at https://www.patreon.com/danielgraves

http://www.aesthetic-perfection.net/

https://www.facebook.com/aestheticperfection

https://twitter.com/daniel_graves

https://www.instagram.com/danielxgraves/

Text and Interview by Chi Ming Lai
17th May 2021

RHYS FULBER Interview

26 February 2021 /

Few, if any musicians on the electronic music scene could claim to be as prolific as the duo of Rhys Fulber and Bill Leeb.

The Canadian-based pair have collaborated as FRONT LINE ASSEMBLY, DELERIUM, INTERMIX and NOISE UNIT and have also brought their musical talents to several other diverse projects over the last 35 years. Rhys Fulber kindly took time out of his busy PR schedule to talk about the new FRONT LINE ASSEMBLY release ‘Mechanical Soul’ and a selection of some of his high profile side-projects.

How important was the influence of your father on you getting into music?

Hugely important. His record collection alone was a solid foundation for anyone, but then the fact our dining room was a jam space from when I was 5 or so meant there were always instruments set up to mess around with. The keyboard player in the bar band he played with had a Minimoog, so I remember playing with that when I was 7 or so. I also started playing drums maybe even earlier than that.

Who were your earliest musical influences?

KRAFTWERK is number one. My parents took me to a show when I was 5 and I still remember it. After that it’s Pete Shelley’s ‘Homosapien’ album and all the BUZZCOCKS original LPs. Their music really connected with me when I was young and still does today.

What kind of effect did growing up in Canada have on your music?

Vancouver was still very colonial when I grew up so we got more of the British music scene than the US, as well as Canada promoting a lot of their in house bands so we had our own take on things in some ways. Also Vancouver was a world class studio city already in the 80s so there was a culture of that in Vancouver. All the studios we worked in were first rate, and connected to a famous Canadian musician, like Bryan Adams or Paul Dean.

How much have the themes of ‘Mechanical Soul’ been influenced by the situation of the pandemic?

I think maybe lyrically a bit. I was still living in LA when we started the album so we were already used to working remotely, so it wasn’t a big change for us in that way.

What have been your other sources of song material for the album?

I had clips of music from various things and times that we pulled together as the basis. One was meant to be for my solo techno material as well, so it was a bigger variety of starting points that usual. We used to get in a room together and write all the music so this one is different in that way. I had some track ideas and Bill made suggestions to them and then added vocals and lyrics, so in some ways we both focused on our roles more than in the past in a way.

Were there any particular synths or pieces of technology that had an impact on the making of ‘Mechanical Soul’?

Each one had a different key piece. I added that to the liner notes; which was the featured instrument on each. For instance, the main riff of ‘Alone’ was from a borrowed Moog Model 15 reissue that I just recorded jams on for a day and pieced those core elements together from that. The single ‘Unknown’ has a lot of a Roland Alpha Juno 2 synth I think I have only used on maybe two other songs over 20 years or so…

You have two featured songs out of the 157(!) on the recent ‘Cyberpunk 2077’ computer game. What is the story behind ‘Drained’ and ‘Subvert’, were they written specifically for the product?

Yes, they were. I was put in touch with one of the music supervisors as just a general contact, because he had worked for a label FLA had released for in the past and he just asked if I would be interested in submitting some ideas to this new game project. I had submitted a total of 6 or 7 tracks and they chose those two. The song ‘Stifle’ on ‘Mechanical Soul’ was one of the tracks that didn’t make the cut. Bill liked it so we developed it into a Front Line song. Two tracks on my last solo album ‘Ostalgia’ were also from those sessions, and the ‘Cyberpunk 2077’ material spawned the rest of that album as well, as it was done at the same time.

In pre-pandemic times, FRONT LINE ASSEMBLY co-headlined with DIE KRUPPS on the ‘Machinists United Tour’, what are your recollections of those shows?

It was a pretty good tour. Just adding another name band does a lot for the draw it seems, so we had some shows that we hadn’t had in a while in places like Munich for instance.

What means most to you? Recording new material or playing live?

Well, you can’t have live without the studio for this music, so I think the studio means more to me although I really like both.

Sampling has always been at the core of your musical projects, what have been the highs and lows of creating songs using this creation method?

Sampling is just like another form of synthesis to me so it’s hard to extract it as a separate thing now. We didn’t think too much about what we sampled other than if it sounded good. I still think that holds true now, though I have just gotten much more covert with how I do it now. Random and obscure sources, for instance.

‘Voices’, which featured on the INTERMIX album, has always been a favourite. What are your memories of working on this album?

I don’t remember that album too well. I remember the mix room and the gear we used, but it’s not exactly clear. It was a busy time and we made that album fairly quickly as a way to experiment with new ideas without committing them to FLA. So it was like a testing site album.

From the same album, ‘S+M=y’ features a sample from Clive Barker’s seminal horror film ‘Hellraiser’. Was there a specific process with getting the “we’ll tear your soul apart” dialogue cleared, or was this an early case of let’s sample it and hope no-one will notice?

We didn’t think that way then at all. We just sampled whatever. It wasn’t until ‘Millennium’ (1994) that we had to atone for our sins!

In terms of commercial success, the DELERIUM track ‘Silence’ sticks out. The original version still stands up, but how did you feel when the trance versions brought the track to a more mainstream audience?

It was pretty surreal, like you are somehow disconnected to it. But who can complain about a magic moment like that? I think hits have to be accidents, because nothing about that was planned.

You have produced for other artists, notably working on KANGA’s superb eponymously titled album and ‘Automaton’, the upcoming single by AESTHETIC PERFECTION. What do you think makes a good producer?

Someone who can make an artist comfortable and not afraid to try new things and push themselves. It’s usually done with lots of support and being careful with words and constructive criticism.

You have worked with co-collaborator Bill Leeb for over 30+ years now. What do you feel helps to keep that relationship fresh creatively?

It is mainly around a similar taste and we still listen to new things. I think our working relationship is better than ever because there has been so much trust built up.

How influenced are you by current forms of music?

Moderately. I think you can’t have stale beats in electronic music, so it’s good to hear what the current sounds are to keep your sound fresh without jumping too much on one thing. As you get older you realise being yourself is the most important, but buying new shoes and a jacket really helps.

Do you feel that the Industrial format is a bit of a straitjacket? Is this a reason why you have pursued several side projects?

It doesn’t have to be, but I think the audience wants the bands they like to deliver the sound they were drawn to. When you go too far off that they feel betrayed somehow. It’s easier just to have another banner to keep everyone happy.

Your CV of outside artists you have worked from a production / remix perspective with is pretty incredible including MÖTLEY CRÜE and MEGADETH as well as Alice Cooper, Sarah Brightman, Sinéad O’Connor; do you find working with other artists more or less stressful than working on your own material?

It really depends. Both can be very stressful. Working on your own, you can lose perspective which can really slow things down, whereas with a band or something there are more ears in the room.

You have been pretty vocal about the way that streaming sites such as Spotify give musicians a raw deal when it comes to royalties. What musical formats do you tend to generate most of your income from?

It’s hard to answer that because I get income from so many places now after so many years in the business, and sometimes it’s really random; suddenly one song will get used somewhere and you get a blip, so I can’t complain too much. I just think YouTube and Spotify is devaluing art in many ways and it’s hard to steer away from ‘free’ for a lot of people once the toothpaste is squeezed from the tube. I much prefer the model Bandcamp have come up with, where you get some streaming and the appreciation of tangible product as well.

You are stuck on a desert island, what is the one piece of electronic gear you would have with you and why?

My Waldorf Q+. It literally can do it all, and very well!

ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK gives its warmest thanks to Rhys Fulber

Special thanks to Gary Levermore at Red Sand PR

‘Mechanical Soul’ is released by Metropolis Records, available in double vinyl LP, CD and digital formats from https://frontlineassembly.bandcamp.com/album/mechanical-soul

A selection of Rhys Fulber solo material is available from https://rhysfulber.bandcamp.com/

http://www.mindphaser.com/

https://www.facebook.com/frontlineassembly/

https://www.facebook.com/rhysfulbermusic

https://twitter.com/f7a

https://twitter.com/rhysfulber

https://www.instagram.com/front.line.assembly.official/

https://www.instagram.com/rhys_fulber/

https://www.metropolis-records.com/artist/front-line-assembly

Text and Interview by Paul Boddy
Photos by Chris Escamilla, Bobby Talamine and Simon Helm
26th February 2021

FRONT LINE ASSEMBLY Interview

16 February 2019 /

Photo by Bobby Talamine

Bill Leeb is unimpressed with the Super Bowl half-time show. The best the NFL could muster for the break in the biggest game in the American sports season was MAROON 5, who showed twice as many nipples as Janet Jackson and a tenth of the melody of Taylor Swift.

We’re speaking the day after the event, but not about Tom Brady’s passing game. Leeb’s main band, FRONT LINE ASSEMBLY, has a new album to share.

‘Wake Up The Coma’, the latest from Canada’s electro-industrial pioneers, is loaded with energy and makes a number of surprising plays. We start by asking why FLA weren’t asked to do the half-time show.

Leeb: Because I don’t have enough tattoos. I gotta say, if I put a tattoo across my chest, stating Vancouver, that would be kind of a big statement.

On stage, Leeb is an imposing figure, even without his hometown etched into his skin. The former SKINNY PUPPY keyboardist prowls the boards with a shock of blond hair rising above him. When he points at the audience, you half expect lightning to take out the front row. He’s always drawn attention for his looks. When he moved to Canada as a teenager, the Austrian stood out.

Photo by Bobby Talamine

Leeb: The craziest thing is my first girlfriend in Vancouver, Debbie Jones, who is no longer with us, approached me at a nightclub because these guys were harassing her table. She asked if she could sit with me.  I used to get this question all the time, because of my hair: “Hey, are you in a band?” I think I’ve been asked that more than anything my entire life.

The meeting with Jones led to another important connection.

Leeb: We started chit-chatting, and the next thing you know she knew cEvin [Key] from SKINNY PUPPY. They met because Debbie and her cousin Donna were driving through a park, and cEvin pulled up in a black Monte Carlo with swivel seats. He rolled down the window and said, “Hey, do you guys want to smoke a joint?” Debbie said, “OK, yeah, sure.” There was also Gary [Smith] from Images in Vogue. So it all started with that group of people. When I think back now, it’s a bit like a movie how we all met up together.

With cEvin Key, Leeb struck up both a friendship and a friendly rivalry to find the latest obscure sounds from around the world. Their bible was the Contact List of Electronic Music (CLEM), an annotated directory of record stores and labels involved in the DIY tape and record scenes.

Leeb: One of the first things that got me going was a magazine called CLEM. That was one of our key influences. In there was all the PORTION CONTROL, ATTRITION and LUSTMORD. They had all the contacts, and you could write to all these people, and I think that was the big key for us. Me and cEvin being competitive, of course, we started writing to all these artists.

Back then, you could send an IRC [International Reply Coupon], which was a coupon you could buy at the post office that could be exchanged overseas for stamps. 

We started collecting cassettes from all these artists, and I still have lots of them. Me and cEvin would meet up, and it would be, “I’ve got a cassette from Edward Ka-Spel or In Phaze Records or PORTION CONTROL.” So, we started a bit of a collection war, and that’s how we got onto a lot of those artists.

Crate digging was the other way that the two friends found the sounds that connected them to the industrial and electronic scenes on the other side of the world.

 Leeb: Odyssey Imports and Quintessence Records were the two main stores in Vancouver which continuously, every week, brought in 12” vinyls from the UK and Germany. The UK pressings were better than those from anywhere else, so every Monday we would go down and wait to see what was going on. I remember cEvin turned me on to FAD GADGET. One day, he was standing beside me in the record store and he pulled out that album, Fireside Favourites, and said, “Have you heard this?” I go, “No.” And he says, “Great album – check it out!” And, of course, I became a huge FAD GADGET fan.

Still, Leeb gives a lot of credit to CLEM and its publisher, Alex Douglas.

Leeb: He was way ahead of the curve, as far all those bands. We got half of our contacts and info from that guy. That magazine was invaluable.

It was through CLEM and the underground cassette scene that Leeb became aware of Third Mind, a British label, and its guiding force, Gary Levermore. Third Mind would go on to release Front Line Assembly in the UK and organise shows for the innovative band.

Leeb: The thing that got me on to Gary was when he released Rising from the Red Sand. That was in CLEM magazine, and it had PORTION CONTROL, ATTRITION, BUSHIDO, LUSTMORD – it just went on and on. That was probably the best of the cassette compilations – song for song, that was probably the best one. 

Another great thing that me and cEvin used to do was stay up all night with our group of people, getting wasted and high, and we would find phone numbers for these artists. Come Sunday morning, we would call them. One time, we called PORTION CONTROL at three in the morning here – because the UK is eight hours ahead. Some guy would answer the phone, like Ian [Sharp of PORTION CONTROL], and be, “Hello?” 

We’d be, “Hey, this is cEvin and Bill. We really love your music.” I think they were taken aback that we would call them. It was a different time. You can’t do shit like that now. You’d probably send an email or something. 

It was a much bigger deal back then to get something like that – to get a cassette. I guess these guys over there, if you needed a cassette, they would just run one off.

One of Vancouver’s natural advantages is its permanent place on the North American tour map for interesting artists. Pity music fans from Winnipeg, who were in overflight territory for bands like SIMPLE MINDS and DEPECHE MODE.

Leeb: The crazy thing about DEPECHE MODE is I saw them the very first time they came to Canada, because Images in Vogue – cEvin’s band – opened for them at the Commodore. You know, cEvin and Gary and Joe had the latest and greatest stuff. They had all of that onstage and played. Then DEPECHE MODE, the original line-up, came onstage, and all they had was one keyboard – a small one – and they had an 8-track on the chair behind them. No visuals – that was it. When I think that I saw them last year at the Rogers Arena in front of 80,000 people…

At the first show, there were maybe only 400 people there, and they were up there with only one keyboard. We laughed then, because Images had all the gear and those guys didn’t, but who knew that they were going to be as massive as they were? Who puts a tape player on a chair behind them? But people were different back then.

That isn’t to say that everyone was open to the harder, darker electronics that Leeb and his friends were getting into.

Leeb: I was with cEvin the night he went to Images in Vogue’s manager and said, “I’m leaving the band and starting a new band called SKINNY PUPPY.” Kim Clarke Champniss was the manager of Images, and he was basically telling cEvin, “You’re crazy! Images is on a major; they’ve opened for Roxy and Duran – and you’re going to start a band called SKINNY PUPPY?! Are you crazy?” I was there just for support. And I think SKINNY PUPPY turned out to be ok, right?

The first support for their new approach came from the country that was producing many of the artists Leeb and Key had been discovering – England.

Leeb: For the very first review we got with SKINNY PUPPY – for Remission – me and cEvin went down to Odyssey Imports. There was a guy in Sounds [one of the weekly music tabloids from the UK] called Dave Henderson who ran a weekly thing called Wild Planet – he was another forerunner, encouraging those bands. He wrote a review, and we were walking down the street with it. It said, ”From the land of Anne Murray and Gordon Lightfoot, there is a new electronic band by the name of SKINNY PUPPY. Who do these guys think they are?”

 cEvin was so excited about this guy acknowledging us and saying he liked the album Remission. We’re reading this as we’re storming down the street, and he’s like, ”Bill, look – someone in the UK knows who SKINNY PUPPY is!” Henderson called us all the Wild Planet bands. It was another key factor in this movement, way in the very early days.

Once he was touring with FRONT LINE ASSEMBLY, Leeb got to know some of those bands better.

Leeb: We toured with PORTION CONTROL and did remixes with them. We became friends with Edward Ka-Spel and he and cEvin did THE TEAR GARDEN. Debbie Jones actually went out with Edward for a while – the girl who had brought us all together. Me and Gary Levermore have been really good friends. All those early tours we did through his label in Europe – we became a huge family. It was quite a movement for quite a while – thirty years.

The influence of those cassette-trading pioneers is still being felt.

Leeb: It spawned the things like, in Europe, the M’era Luna festival and Wave-Gotik-Treffen festival –  Amphi. Every band there – whether AND ONE or COVENANT, any of these bands – got their cue from that movement. Not just us, but the whole movement.

Half the bands that are industrial still sound like SKINNY PUPPY or were motivated by that sound. We were motivated by PORTION CONTROL with that distorted, angry vocal – I’d never heard anyone do that before! People were so brainwashed with rock and roll back then. If you think about the whole Gothic world, our world had a lot to do with bringing that forward.

Of course, you had your German bands like DAF – another groundbreaker. FRONT 242 were there, too. They came along during the early SKINNY PUPPY days. That all created a healthy, thriving world in itself. It maybe wasn’t as big as hip hop, but still… NINE INCH NAILS opened for SKINNY PUPPY when it was just Trent for a while and he’s kind of done ok, right? The whole Marilyn Manson thing. It’s spawned a couple of decades of music and it’s still going strong in its own way. It’s still an alternative to all that other stuff, like MAROON 5. It’s so narcissistic, all that world of new popstars now: half the day at the gym; half the day at the tattoo parlour. It’s a whole different mindset.

‘Wake Up The Coma’ features several collaborations. A notable one ‘Eye On You’ with Robert Görl of DAF, opens the album.

Leeb: We met at M’era Luna and another festival. We all hung out backstage, and I kind of hunted him down. One time, they played right after us and we were hanging out backstage, waiting to change, and I just started talking to him. I was such a huge fan, and the first couple of DAF albums were groundbreaking – kind of like the whole Mute and DEPECHE MODE world. We just started chatting in German, and he’s a super nice guy, and next thing you know we were doing the track.

We were going to get him to sing on the song, but he had some things he had to deal with at the time and we couldn’t get it all together – but that was a good start. 

If I think back to twenty five years ago, that I would actually get to do a track with someone like him – I would have thought was far-fetched. That was kind of cool for me. A final thing, as we fade into the future mist.

”David Bowie” even makes a surprise appearance on the last track ‘Structures’.

Leeb: I asked Chris [Connelly], because he does that SONS OF THE SILENT AGE. It’s very popular. They do a couple of Bowie albums every year. I asked him to use that approach to a song. When we did that tour with REVOLTING COCKS in America, it was such a success. Every show sold out. We became really good friends with Richard 23 and Chris and Paul Barker. It was a very fun tour, and everyone was very professional and friendly, so I took the liberty to ask Chris when we became friends and he agreed [snaps fingers] just like that.

The song that will make or break the album might actually be a cover. FLA’s version of Falco’s ‘Rock Me Amadeus’ will surprise a lot of fans with its audacity. It’s not an obvious choice; but, infused with intensity by Rhys Fulber’s programming, and shorn of the wigs and powder of the original, it could be a cross-over hit. They have had those before in their DELERIUM guise.

Leeb: I thought that, having been born and raised in Austria, and being Austrian, there was enough of a connection to do that song. I felt like something foreign and I like classical music, so I hope that the Mayor of Vienna gives me the key to the city and that song gets on Viva rotation. I’m curious to see how much hate and love we get over it. Rhys is loving it. He’s like, “Everyone is going to hate it!” Well, ok, that’s cool. When you hear the original and ours, they are quite different. Jimmy [Urine] is the king of irony. The way he does the song has a hint of humour in it. In the studio, he had it in two or three takes – in German!

Even with covers and collaborations, ‘Wake Up The Coma’ hangs together incredibly well. It’s a mature, sophisticated FLA release. The unifying theme, if there is one, is contact.

Leeb: Jeremy [Inkel] sent me some demos, and the day after he passed away we were supposed to speak. After ‘Echogenetic’, Rhys was back in the picture. It was so crazy, and we put this record together with bits and pieces of these guys. I made new friends with Robert and Chris. Three of the songs came from Ian Pickering. ‘Wake Up The Coma’ was from one of his songs. He was the guy who wrote a bunch of lyrics for SNEAKER PIMPS. We became friends with him through somebody else.

‘Wake Up The Coma’ is with the guy from PARADISE LOST [Nick Holmes]; he does the vocals. Rhys produced a couple of PARADISE LOST albums and they became good friends. It was a weird, big, crazy thing. Rhys summed it up, with all the craziness and Jeremy’s passing: “I guess we’re a real band now.”

ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK gives its grateful thanks to Bill Leeb

Special thanks to Gary Levermore at Red Sand PR

‘Wake Up The Coma’ is released by Metropolis Records, in double vinyl LP, CD and digital formats, available from https://frontlineassembly.bandcamp.com/

http://www.mindphaser.com/

https://www.facebook.com/frontlineassembly/

https://twitter.com/f7a

https://www.instagram.com/front.line.assembly.official/

https://www.metropolis-records.com/artist/front-line-assembly

Text and Interview by Simon Helm
Photos by Simon Helm except where credited
16th February 2019

FRONT LINE ASSEMBLY Live in London

28 August 2017 /

When Bill Leeb left SKINNY PUPPY to form FRONT LINE ASSEMBLY, back in 1986, it seemed that he was jumping the ship everyone wanted to be on.

The Vancouver-based band were rising with a post-punk tide that combined synthesizers, hard rhythms and splatter movie images.

It was a counterpoint to the commercial sounds that filled the airwaves of the period.

Their popularity had helped Nettwerk Records get a distribution deal with a major label in the US, while the band were signed to a powerful independent in Europe. It wasn’t enough for Leeb. He wanted to sing. He wanted to shape songs that were powerful electro-industrial statements, but he also wanted the freedom to create ambient trance.

Starting with a cassette recorder in his bedroom, Leeb created FRONT LINE ASSEMBLY to do the former. He also found success with the latter as DELIRIUM. In between, he’s launched or taken part in dozens of projects. Most recently, he collaborated with John Fryer’s BLACK NEEDLE NOISE project.

Promiscuous as he is, artistically, FLA remains Leeb’s musical spine. He formed the band under the spell of early PORTION CONTROL, SPK and LIAISONS DANGEREUSES, and their industrial influences continue to resonate.

Locked in a hall in London, with long-time collaborator Rhys Fulber on keyboards, the FLA atmosphere comes less from the drifting clouds of stage smoke than the rhythms of the city outside.

The blips of computers and the pumping of valves are core elements of the FLA sound. The flow of data and people needs machines, and the pace of machines causes anxiety. Heavy beats are a sonic tonic for this state, and FLA are an efficient delivery mechanism.

Leeb strides the stage with a shock of blond hair rising from his head that seems to be made of high tensile wire. The opening songs, ‘The Chair’ and ‘Resist’, first appeared on FLA’s 1990 album, ‘Caustic Grip’, and the intervening three decades have done nothing to soften their impact. “Resist the command!” instructs Leeb, and a heaving crowd submits to the rhythm without irony.

‘Killing Ground’ follows, taken from 2013’s critically acclaimed album, ‘Echogenetic’. Fulber didn’t appear on that album, but he did remix the track, and he seems at home with the material. From behind his bank of keyboards, he fixes a serious face for the set, but keeping the needle in the groove at this pace is no smiling matter.

The set includes more songs from ‘Echogenetic’, including ‘Exhale’ and ‘Deadened’, but the balance is weighted towards FLA’s 1990s output. It is an electronic bookend to FLA’s catalogue, leaving out the guitars of their millennial recordings.

Live drumming intensifies the rhythms, rather than presenting Eigner-like intrusions, and the endorphin levels match the sound man’s VU meter.

The show nearly ends with an excellent encore of ‘Mindphaser’, but FLA won’t be released by the audience. The show can’t finish until the blond giant and his bearded keyboardist have returned to ‘Caustic Grip’ for a blistering turn of ‘Iceolate’, as fierce and innovative as it sounded on its initial release.

Special thanks to Gary Levermore at Red Sand PR

2017 North American Tour includes:

Los Angeles The Regent (10th November), Seattle El Corazon (11th November), San Francisco Mezzanine (12th November), Dallas Gas Monkey (14th November), Austin Elysium (15th November), Denver Summit Music Hall (16th November), Chicago Metro (17th November), New York Gramercy Theatre (18th November), Toronto Danforth Music Hall (19th November)

http://www.mindphaser.com/

https://www.facebook.com/frontlineassembly/

https://twitter.com/f7a

https://www.metropolis-records.com/artist/front-line-assembly

http://www.coldwarnightlife.com/

Text and Photos by Simon Helm
28th August 2017

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