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Tom: There has been a lot of controversy over the meaning of the name. What does the name mean?
Sascha: It means: "Kein Mitleid Für Die Mehrheit", which is incorrect, improper German. The problem in that sentence, Kein Mitleid Für Die Mehrheit, is that the "Mehrheit" and the "Mitleid" should be swapped. If they were, it would be a good sentence. If they were, it would mean: "No pity for the majority." The way it is, it means: "No majority for the pity," which is kind of fucked up, but that's the way it is.
Tom: You are the only person to appear on every KMFDM release. Many bands find comfort in having the same performers on all their records. Do you find it hard to work with a person if you've never recorded with them before?
Sascha: No. No, that's interesting. That's always the best part really.
Tom: How do you feel about the current line up?
Sascha: Well, I hate this cunt…(pointing at Joolz Hodgson). That guy can't play guitar for shit. (Laughter) That guy there (pointing to Raymond Watts) in the cowboy hat, he's a waste of fucking space…
Lucia: …and me?
Sascha: …and Lucia looks like she could do magic…(Laughter).
Tom: I pretty much feel the same way about my band too…(Laughter.)
Joolz: We all get along famously.
Sascha: …and there's another one of those weird English people somewhere back in the closet…leaking in his bunk probably. (Laughter)
Tom: The new album is called World War III. What is the underlying theme or message of this record? How does it differ from previous KMFDM records?
Sascha: Oh, man… That's so self-explanatory by just listening to it. How does it differ? What was the other part?
Tom: How does it differ from previous KMFDM releases?
Sascha: Mostly in so far as we reversed the whole recording process, pretty much. Like, in the past, we recorded the electronic shit and then, sort of, the human played parts, but on this one we started out with the human parts and slowly machined it all together. It was quite interesting.
Tom: Describe the songwriting process for KMFDM.
Sascha: Well, it totally varies. Sometimes it starts with a great guitar riff or sometimes it starts with, you know, a bit of a combination of a drumbeat and a bass line, or… anything can be a starting point really. Let me say this: In general: the music was written by Andy, Joolz, and myself… All the words were written by Lucia, Raymond, and myself.
Tom: Though you are from Germany, most of your songs are sung in English. What is the reasoning behind that?
Sascha: Well, those cunts wouldn't understand a fucking word if it was all in German. (Laughter) No… I don't know… German is a really strange language to somehow write this kind of music in. You can have really nice slogans in German and stuff like that, but it's not a language that is easy to, uh, well…it's not even about easy, It's not really comfortable to… it's not a comfortable singing language, or shouting language. Though there is good shouting in German, of course.
Tom: I would like to address the KMFDM album cover art. I was told long ago that if laid out in order, that the covers to your records would tell a story. Is there any truth to that?
Sascha: Well, yeah. Of course. But for that matter, you can take any sort of images and put them together and they would be a story. It's, you know, like a reverse interpretation. So try it. If you have a couple at home, put them in different orders and it will be different stories. It's probably something good to do on a really boring, stormy night. (Laughter)
Tom: You have done remixes of many different bands' material including White Zombie, Kittie and even Nine Inch Nails.
Sascha: No, no, no. No Nine Inch Nails.
Tom: I thought you did on one of the remix things…
Sascha: He did us.
Tom: Oh. My bad. I got it backwards. What group was your favorite to remix and why?
Sascha: My favorite remix was a song by this Polish band: O.N.A. because it was like, I could not understand a fucking word they were saying, I couldn't read anything they were saying, and I completely re-assembled everything they were saying. I totally took it apart and they really liked it and I really liked it too. Uhm, another one that was good too was the Kittie remix. That was really good.
Tom: Yeah, I interviewed them a while back and asked them about that.
Sascha: Did they like it?
Tom: Oh… Hell yeah!
Sascha: Good! I liked it too.
Tom: My personal favorite is the White Zombie remixes. I thought that those were phenomenal.
Sascha: Yeah? Which one? …"Thunderkiss" or Black sunshine?
Tom: Both. "The Remix That Wouldn't Die Remix" of Thunderkiss '65 was my absolute personal favorite. I thought that was just awesome.
Sascha: Yeah? There was a reggae version of Black Sunshine.
Tom: Really? I never heard that one.
Sascha: I don't know if they ever released that one.
Tom: Nope. Never heard it…
Sascha: It was like Lee Popa and I going into "Def" mode on Rob Zombie's ass.
Tom: Besides KMFDM you have done various side projects such as MDFMK and SCHWEIN. How did those groups differ from KMFDM?
Sascha: Well, MDFMK was basically the continuation of KMFDM through difficult times, whereas SCHWIEN and Excessive Force were true side projects. They were like, one- or two-offs, you know, just release it and that's it. Side projects, I don't know… Sometimes it's just necessary to do something else, you know? You want to explore a different direction, or work with a different group of people… Stuff like that. But KMFDM, for me at least, is the most serious thing I am doing. I am always serious about it.
Tom: Was there ever a point in your career where you just wanted to say, "Fuck it!" and walk away from doing music?
Sascha: Every fucking day! (Laughter) No… actually no. I really like what I'm doing. I mean I feel, you know, privileged in so far as I am doing what I like best and we all can make a living off of it. You know, scantily and scarce sometimes but definitely, it's a good thing. Most people have to, you know, do jobs they don't like in order to sustain themselves, so, you know, I feel good about that.
Tom: Ok, on a more personal note, I understand you like to cook. What else do you like to do when you aren't working on music?
Sascha: I like to sort of… if I don't work, which is very rare… I just like to sort of slouch around and read and eat food.
Tom: I know Kraftwerk was one, but who are some of the other bands that you consider to be your influences?
Sascha: T-Rex, Frank Zappa, you know, the whole Punk thing… there are so many influences. We all have different influences I'm sure. But, it's probably safe to say for the entire group right now, that we're all pretty much into Punk Rock and Glam Rock… that sort of stuff. Electronica, this, that… classical music… (Laughter) Andy really surprised me last night with his music choice.
Andy: It was The Carpenters last night.
Tom: What was it?
Andy: The Carpenters.
Tom: My band, The Born Again Savages, does a Ramones-style cover of "Close To You." It's a minute and a half long and every time we play it, the crowd goes berserk! It's HUGE! We got reviewed once for a show and the reviewer said that seeing me ("The Hulking Tom Carpenter") sing that song was worth the price of admission. I took that to be a good thing. (Laughter)
Sascha: That's really cool.
Tom: I read that you are the one that does the band's website, but I found out from Jeff that it isn't true.
Sascha: I just sort of put content on from time to time… informative shit. I started the website many, many, many years ago as a straight up HTML site. Just a couple of pages of information… You know, back in 1990-whatever…there was no mp3 stuff, not much in the way of photo downloads and stuff. Everything was a lot slower and more expensive and shit. Eventually, Jeff took over and revamped the whole thing.
Tom: Killer looking site. I like it a lot. It's pretty good.
Jeff: Thank You.
Tom: Yeah. You're welcome.
Tom: What do you feel is your greatest accomplishment of your career?
Sascha: Being here today. Still doing it.
Tom: Good answer!
Tom: What does the future hold for KMFDM?
Sascha: Being here again sometime soon. (Laughter)
Tom: I hope it is soon too, man. This is my first time getting a chance to see you live. I have been listening to you for years…like they say on call in shows: "Long time listener, first time viewer." (Laughter)
Sascha: Well, it's all shifting. Record sales, CD sales, the whole thing is sort of going downhill, so a lot of bands will be touring a lot more than they have been, you know?
Tom: Yeah. There are all those people like "Him" (pointing to my friend Mike) who download everything and never buy anything. (Laughter)
Sascha: (To Mike) Off the bus!!! (Laughter)
Tom: There you go, Mike! (Laughter)
Tom: So, I know you guys have to get ready and stuff… Any final comments?
Sascha: Yeah! Get fucking rid of George Bush, man. America needs to be free again.
Tom: Amen!
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