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eek edition April/May/June 2022 free ofcharge, not for sale quarterly publishedmusic magazine 39 ADULT. AHRAYEPH - ECHO ROAD GOETHES ERBEN - IRDORATH LACRIMOSA - MARROWVOLTAGE PANICLIFT -THEREBELRIOT

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contents 01 Cover ADULT. / ©ADULT. 04 Interview GOETHES ERBEN 06 Reviews 08 Interview NINO SABLE 11 Interview ECHO ROAD 12 Reviews 14 InterviewMARROWVOLTAGE 18 Interview ADULT. 22 Interview THE REBEL RIOT 24 Interview LACRIMOSA 26 28 Reviews 30 Interview IRDORATH 24 Interview PANIC LIFT 35 Calendar Interview 25YEARS OF AHRAYEPH colophon ORGANISATION BODYBEATS PRODUCTIONS Marleen MASTBOOMS www.BodyBeats.be PORTA NIGRA Peter Verreycken www.PortaNigra.eu LE FANTASTIQUE Frédéric COTTON www.LeFantastique.net YOUR ORGANISATION HERE? Join us & support (y)our scene! WE NEEDYOU! Peek-a-Boo is always looking for new partners, distributors, writers, editors and translators. [email protected] LAYOUT Fred GADGET Veerle DE BLOCK EDITORS / TRANSLATORS Leanne AITKEN Kevin BURKE Michael BOGHE Tine SWAENEPOEL F.X. REIMERINGER Gea STAPELVOORT PHOTOGRAPHERS Elke BREDENBRUCH Luc LUYTEN Xavier MARQUIS WRITERS Jurgen BRAECKEVELT Dimi BRANDS Kevin BURKE Peter DOLPHEN Fred GADGET Hamis HIREK Kurt INGELS Xavier KRUTH Lena DAUTEL Tom PLOVIE Dany QUETIN - 3 - WRITERS (continued) Britta TABRIT Henk VEREECKEN Dan VOLOHOV Chris WHEATLEY William ZIMMERMAN PARTNERS & DISTRIBUTION BODYBEATS PROD. (Antwerp) www.BodyBeats.be DARK BALLOON (Retie) www.darkballoon.be BUNKERLEUTE (Leuven) Dries HAESELDONCKX www.bunkerleute.be DARK ENTRIESMAGAZINE (B) www.darkentries.be GOTHVILLE (Hasselt) www.gothville.com INFRAROT (Germany) www.infrarot.de PORTA NIGRA (Aarschot) www.PortaNigra.eu WEBSITE Ward DE PRINS (RIP) Peek-A-Boo Magazine • Heilig Geesthoek 87A • BE-2070 • Zwijndrecht • Contact: [email protected] / Promo: [email protected] www.peek-a-boo-magazine.be

GOETHESERBEN Oswald Henke is angry. Angry and disappointed. In the pandemic, the cultural sector was used as a scapegoat. Everything about culture had to be closed, while sporting events and travellingwere allowed to continue.His income was severely reduced for two years as a result. Nevertheless, Goethes Erben released two beautiful recordsduring thepandemic:'FlüchtigeKüsse'in2020and 'Elemente' in 2021. The live CD and DVD'Das gestohlene Konzert' will soon be added. Enough reasons to listen to UncleOswald oncemore. In July2021 you released'Elemente'. It is not just a CDbut a collection of singles about the four elements of nature: air, earth, water and fire. There is also a CD with some bonus tracks.What inspiredyou toworkwith this concept? Oswald Henke : In times of pandemic, we had to adapt our way of working.We haven't been able to rehearse much in 2020.We discussed a lot through Skype meetings or on the phone because you couldn't get together,even as a band.So I thought to myself: let's put together in one box everything that Goethes Erben has produced as creative work and content. Past, present and also future. For this reason the 7" box'Elemente'has also been released as vinyl + CD + soap + other extras. My creative work doesn't includes one single thingbutmanysmall elements that then result ina complete work.'Seelenbalsam' (the soap collection that Oswald Henke helped create,xk) for example onlyexists because during the pandemic I lost almost everyopportunitytomakemoneyand then I implemented the idea of vegan cosmetics based on pieces byGoethes Erben,Erblast or Artwork.We then created it and offered it as a product. The soap 'Rebel' – one of the designed soaps from the 'Seelenbalsam'collection–is the representativeof this in the box. The music consists of the chamber ensemble and the regular band and the box contains old and newpieces…you will find all kinds of memories on the pins.All these things recall what makes Goethes Erben so special. All elements together result in my work. Even though Goethes Erben is always an ensemble performance, I am the artistic director and I try to collaborate with other creatives and thus set up artisticprojects.I amnot afraid to trynewthings out andhave also tried to overcome the limitations imposed by the pandemic as part of the box concept. On the release, Goethes Erben plays in two different ensembles: as a rock band on 'Spiel mit mir' and as a chamber ensemble on most of the other songs. The two ensembles also lead to several live concerts, completely independent of each other. How do you combine the two versions ofyour project? I am the crossroads and at some concerts of the chamber ensemble,Markus Koestner of the regular band is also there www.peek-a-boo-magazine.be - 4 - as a percussionist. They are simply two different live ensembles rehearsing at different times and working independently on new pieces. So it is not really a combination.Rather:we can stageGoethes Erben indifferent ways.Whether as a band,as a chambermusic ensemble or as amusic theatre production. 'Elemente' also includes 'Ölberg' versions of several older pieces performed by the chamber music ensemble. I love them. They appear to be leftovers from the recordings of your previous record,'FlüchtigeKüsse'.Whydidyou include themon'Elemente'? That's right, they were recorded in Ölberg church as part of the recordings for 'Flüchtige Küsse'. For 'Elemente' these pieces represent the past,which at best is an important part of the present and should alsobe anoption for the future.We keep changing the live versions to keep them in the present. Arrangements can be made smaller or larger, or they can be left as they are.That's the exciting thing.The only important thing is that you don't destroy the"magic"of a piece. In the song'Zeit zu gehen', but also in the CD booklet, you criticize the measures surrounding the corona pandemic. You even say that 'society has failed'. What made you so angryabout themeasures?Whyhas societyfailed? Politics and society have generally used the arts and the cultural sector aswhippingboys in thepandemic.Inprinciple, we as a band and I as a musician have not been able to give concerts at any time since the outbreak of the pandemic in Europe. We always had restrictions and conditions, while people attended footballmatches in stadiums or travelledall over the world to enjoy their holidays and then wondered why the number of infections increased again after the holidays.Culture was the first thing that kept getting turned off and one of the last things allowed to be reactivated. Thepandemicalsohadamajor impact on theartisticworld. You complain that both record sales and concert ticket sales have suffered greatly from the pandemic. What do you thinkare the causes and solutions? I have no idea. After two years of not being able to plan anything, I decided to avoid a third year in this regard and only plan and offer concerts byGoethes Erben in and around Bayreuth. Only the festival in October (Autumn Moon in Hamelin) is at a distance.All other concerts take place in our neighbourhood. I also think it will take months if not years after the pandemic to get people back to concerts.Some will probably not come at all because after two years of uncertainty and fear they are used to staying at home.

'Elemente' comes after 'Flüchtige Küsse', which was released in 2020.We had seen concerts with the chamber music ensemble before but this is a whole CD in this style. And it is brilliant! I heard it should have been a live CD but because of Corona it was recorded without an audience. Whydid you decide to record a CDwith this ensemble and whyshould it have been a live recording? Goethes Erben has always been a strong live band and the chamber music arrangements in particular work most intensively when they are recorded live at the same time as an ensemble.That's why I wanted to record 'Flüchtige Küsse' like this.The titles'Ichmöchte fliegen','Zeit zugehen','Darfich bitten' and 'Fern ab vom Licht' were not recorded live. This has advantages in terms ofmixing but when you hear these pieces live on the upcoming DVD and CD 'Das gestohlene Konzert'youwill understandwhyI prefer live,also in terms of recording the chamber ensemble. It's just livelier and more intense. Sebastian Boettcher's compositions for the chamber music ensemble are very melodic. Your singing style, often referred to as Sprechgesang, has evolved in that direction, hasn't it? Let's put it thisway:with the chamber ensemble I sometimes hit the right notes. (laughs) Since the rehearsals here are muchmore intensive and complex,I alsodared to expandmy linguistic possibilities in a tonal way. In your lyrics on'Flüchtige Küsse'we can read things like: 'We all seekgreat happiness and forget to be just satisfied' and'Sometimes it's just about getting through life'.Howdo you see things in this regard? Exactly as it says in the text. Life is not always beautiful and sometimes fate is unfair andmean.But life is also the option on EVERYTHING, because if you don't live, you can't have beautiful things, fall in love, dance, have adventures or have happy moments. But a part of life is also experiencing grief and loss.It is important that wemake something of our lives and somehowtry tomake the world a little better. It gets more political at the end of 'Flüchtige Küsse': 'Because we don't believe anything anymore; no longer believing the facts' and 'arguing against ignorance is meaningless as playing chess with pigeons and religion'. Does the current affairs around corona and corona skeptics also seep through in these texts? 'Ich bin der Zorn',indeed.It ismainly thanks to idiots and toxic men likeTrump,Erdogan,Bolsonaro,Putin andOrban that the world has become smaller and more intolerant in recent years. Conspiracy theories are on the rise and I'm actually - 5 - waiting for the first pyres andbookburnings.Thedemocracies must now assert themselves and also clearly say goodbye to ruthless capitalism, in which only a small elite accumulate more and more money while the rest of humanity dries up. Whether financially,economically,socially or factually. You also say that a new record is coming soon–the tenth studio album.Canyou tell us something about it? We presentedX live with 5 titles on theXTour 2021.We will present the new album live on September 17 in Bayreuth. However, the X album itself will not be released until the spring of 2023,as we need this time to record the album in a way that we are happywith during this pandemic period.The pandemic has slowed things down and put a lot of things on hold as well.An unwanted delay has disadvantages.But you can alsomake this circumstance a possibility and that's what we're trying to dowith the concept ofX. (Read more on wwww.peek-a-boo-magazine.be) Xavier KRUTH Photos © Luc 'Who Cares' Luyten www.peek-a-boo-magazine.be

ADULT. - Becoming Undone (CD / Vinyl / Digital) This eight-track masterpiece opens with 'Undoing / Undone' - an eclectic amalgamation of Nicola's paranoid sounding and intoxicating vocal passages, almost nervous-sounding sequencers and pounding analogue-sounding drum machines. With lyrical choruses like "Our Compulsion is Our Destruction", the trend of this album is firmly set and needs no further elaboration. In short, this Becoming Undone has once again become a great and varied record which fits perfectly into your ADULT. discography.Kuperus &Miller are clearly artists in heart and soul and in more disciplines than just music. So don't expect them to serve you a bite-sized chunk but instead, use your brain and imagination to make this piece of art your own! Because … Yes You can! [FG] THE BIRTHDAY MASSACRE - Fascination (CD / Vinyl / Digital) Fascination is a quite captivating work, with the characteristic mix of razor-sharp vocals, sweet electronics and guitars that can be heard frugally in the background and then again prominently claim a leading role.An album that brings together the best of the past 20 years of experience in nine songs. They delivered another nice gift and it is a pleasure to unwrap this album Fascination song by song. You can almost feel that the band is getting stronger than ever before. Accessible, solid and intoxicating at the same time, their characteristic mix of blaring, heavily distorted guitars, with sweet synth lines just works. I can't decide which song on Fascination is the real absolute stunner track that will blow your mind. But this doesn't mean that the album is mediocre! Quite the opposite! This is The Birthday Massacre album! A monument and a working recipe that moves and fascinates. Starting as Imagica, theymorphed in 2001 to The BirthdayMassacre.Meanwhile, the dance must go on! And with this record it does! (Metropolis Records) [JB] MICHAEL ZODOROZNY - Other Side (Vinyl / Digital) Other Side is the first solo album of New York post-punk visionary and founding member of Crash Course In Science, Michael Zodorozny. Being the “head and voice” of the aforementioned cult band it comes as no surprise this piece of art sounds very similar. All seven tracks on this album sound gloomy, dark, dystopian, vintage but yet still fresh! No happy-joy-joy tunes but electro-industrial with an EBM-ish feel. One of the characteristics of the sound of Michael’s works, is most definitely the use of self-hacked and modified (toy) synthesizers. Instead of giving these selfmade instruments futuristic concept names Michael calls them simply the orange one or the grey one, for obvious reasons. All songs on this Other Side album fit neatly in-between those classic new wave club hits, especially the feisty remix from the track ‘Constant’ by no-one less than The Hacker closes this album in perfect dark club style atmosphere! Michael Zodorozny has art running through his veins and is also responsible for the artwork. It is so unique and enjoyable! Keep going Michael! (Electronic Emergencies) [HH] MATT HART - Decimate (Single (Digital)) Londoner MATT HART is into industrial. In 2005, he started writing his first music. With careful steps, he started making music. As a DJ, he played in renowned music clubs.The electronic instruments were in his hands, bass and guitar knew no secrets as he played them with Concrete Lung. Here is the second single, Decimate, which is a foretaste of the album Below The Terra Part 1 that will be released in the spring of 2022. Decimate is a dark electro/industrial song. Expect heavy darkbeats that pound away, nice synths, a voice that sometimes is put through a vocoder and sometimes sounds metal-like, supported by guitars that guarantee a heavy industrial twist. Check it yourself! (Self-released) [JB] www.peek-a-boo-magazine.be - 6 - Read full reviews on http://www.peek-a-boo-magazine.be/en/reviews/ (Dais Records))

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NINOSABLE This ‘new’ project’s name is Nino Sable, which is also the name of Dark-Goth-Metal band Aeon Sable’s singer. With Aeon Sable Nino released seven albums but nowhe found the time ripe to produce his first Nino Sable solo album! Some ofusmight knowyou from the bandAeon Sablewith whom you released about seven albums so far. Why starti this solo project? Before the pandemic I was mainly the singer of the gothic rock band Aeon Sable. I sometimes wrote music, but my last record (Melanculia -SeventhCircle) hadbeen released4years ago and the project was discontinued. With the pandemic, the studio closed its doors and I had to manage my own affairs. Inspiration was everywhere, while the pressure of state and society spat intomy face.I had a job to do. I had to conserve this atmosphere - this Zeitgeist. I bought a computer and some software and started composing and recording. During the inferno of 2020 and 2021 I finally got access to the Artsphere and wrote around 30 tracks.Everything that had to be said,had to be felt… If I’m not mistaken you did compose everything byyourself on this debut album, music, lyrics … Is this by choice or rather bycircumstance? On the first pass, I wrote all the tracks on my own and as a second step I gave these raw demos to my friend Lars Kappeler (Sweet Ermengarde / OBB) in order to have them arranged in a professional way.Lars did a huge update on the tracks concerning production and also added some characteristic goth vibes by including and changing some instruments. On the Nino Sable Bandcamp one can read it took you 15 years to release this debut album.Whydid it take that long? Well,it isn’t like I have never released an albumbefore -but it never happened under my own name. I just had (and participated in) several projects. In 2021,as a matter of fact, I decided to sail undermyown flag.Iwanted absolute freedom in terms of creation. But then, in2021,youmanaged to releaseanewsongeach and everymonth? Was this planned like this? And didn’t it put you in a stressful position to continue to deliver month after month? Delivering new creations wasn’t the stressful part,promoting them was. On the one hand, continuous hard work was necessary to be able to produce and promote at the same time, but on the other hand, I gave my all to keep my friends and fans entertainedduring those tough times.I didwhat had to be done. www.peek-a-boo-magazine.be - 8 - Can you elaborate the title ‘Sedate ⊚ Seduce’ to our readers? ‘Sedate ⊚ Seduce’ is a hint to the duality that led me into Artsphere.Sedation is the initial ritual,seduction the second, while between both -art is born (symbolized by the⊚CD).If you take a close lookat the CDdesign,you’ll see that‘sedate’ and‘seduce’turn around the‘⊚’. Symbolism seems to have an important place in Aeon Sable as well as in this project. Can you tell us why and what some of the used symbols stand for? What some people don’t knowis that I amamedia designer and in that function, I designed sigils for each member of Aeon Sable back in 2012. In Nino Sable I am using my old sigil originally designed for my persona in Aeon Sable. It stands for the“voiceofthe seventh sonofmoonand sun”and inmy opinion,it perfectly fits my nowadays role. Do you have plans ofperforming livewith this project and howwill you approach this seeing you are, so far, the only member? We have a very motivated live crew and together we have already performed live last year. The feedback from the crowd was wonderful. So, yes. We will be performing Nino Sable live out there in the future - as soon as stages were available again for “small artists”. Classifying your music as simply Goth-rock would maybe be tooeasyand straight forwardbecause I thinkthealbum has somuchmore tooffer sohowwouldyoudescribeyour music? I can’t. I am not a friend of boxed content.Of course there is the spirit of goth in each track but you can find so much more. This album also includes pop and psychedelic rock, synth-wave,dark-wave,electronic,coldwave,post-punk. And finally the inevitable sort of question a band / musician creating“Goth-Rock”music can not escape from … Please rank The Sister Of Mercy, The Mission and The Fields ofTheNephilimtoyour personal taste and tell us IF they had an impact on your music and why… If you ever heard of themof course! :-) I havebeenmostlyinspiredbyblackmetal inmyyouth.Later, with Aeon Sable,Gothic-Rock came into my life and so I got to know all the goth classics. Yes, of course the artists mentioned above inspired me but – I have never idealized any of them because there are also a lot of industrial,metal, drone,ambient,synth (…) artists ★ inmy playlist. www.ninosable.de Fred GADGET Fred

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ECHO ROAD Peek-a-Boo Magazine had the chance to talk to the NewJersey based Rock band'Echo Road'.'Echo Road'are Michael Febles,Mario Giordano, Luke Becker and Gabe Vega. Howare you guys doing? Hey Britta! Hope all is well in Germany, we’ve been doing great and are excited to speak with you again! You've recentlychanged your band name fromHidden Figures to Echo Road.What happened?Why Echo Road? As far as the name goes,we have been considering a change for some time, but the final nail in the coffin was finding another group with the same name.The process of generating a new name was a long one but we eventually chose Echo Road, after the street name where our vacation cabin is located.The air there is quiet and the trees outline a quaint and fantastical setting. It’s a pleasant and calming escape to nature, so naturally it felt fitting as a new group title.Our name may be different, but the lineup is as it was: Mario and Michael on guitars and vocals,Gabe on bass, Luke on drums. live sound into a studio recording as we possibly could.There really aren’t overdubs in that song,even on the vocals,which adds to the rawness of it.The lyrics are much more straightforward in a bluesier style as we wanted to focus on the instrumental elements more and give each member a time to shine. There are quite a few blistering fills on the bass, plus two guitar solos and a gigantic drum solo in the middle section. Luke truly came into his element in this one. You're planning an albumrelease thisMarch.What canyou tell us about the release date and where can we listen to your music? 'Out in the Open' releases on Friday,April 15,2022. It can be listened to anywhere and everywhere; although it is recommended to be heard with others at a more than sufficient volume. 'There was no easy way or any shortcut to be taken in terms of producing something truly representative of the human experience.We simply had to ‘just do it'.' You've recently released a newsingle. It's called'She is My Songbird'.Tell us more about it! ‘She is My Songbird’ has been with us since fall of 2019, and its release is a long time coming for us. It is one of our favorites and has been played at just about every gig from its inception. The song concept began as a meditation on romance,but sort of evolved into something resembling a spiritual awakening as a result of gratification in companionate love. In the beginning of the song, the lyrics paint a dark, misty biome with rocky hills and caverns, which was definitely Tolkien-inspired. Even the image of the bird is taken from elements of Kate Chopin’s The Awakening, which also connects heavily with another track on our album, ‘A City in the Sea’. It’s much more contained, though, and isn’t as radically existentialist as ‘A City in the Sea’.‘She is My Songbird’ is more focused on the element of love and gratification as a means to genuine existence. On the musical side, the track embodiesmore of our folk and 60s pop influencewith acoustic guitars, organ, and layered harmonies. There was definitely consideration of artists like George Harrison and Fleet Foxes.With ‘Red Girl’, the idea was to embody as much of our www.peek-a-boo-magazine.be - 10 - Can you describe the process of making a record from the first ideas to recording it? Our initial thoughts about creating the album were considered in its title.There was no easy way or any shortcut to be taken in terms of producing something truly representative of the human experience. We simply had to ‘just do it’, even if it took the three years that it did. From the ground up we built our studio, Bentley Sound, and just figured out how to run it.At the start,days would go by and we wouldn’t even have a clean mic sound.There were plenty of all nighters, corrupted file mishaps, and you know, a global pandemic, but we each kept each other moving.Most of the songs were written throughout 2019, the exception being ‘Eternity’, which was written as far back as 2018. Out in the Open has been a long time coming, and we’re most excited to share it with our fans. And of course, we are extremely grateful and fortunate to have such supportive friends like Aidan Jude Polemeni ('Jude and the Strangers', Evandria Recording) who offered his Evandria Studios for mixing and mastering, Ralph Cheuveret and Daniel Tineo who donated recording equipment and instruments, and Sumaiyah Siddiqui and Sarah Greiner who both sang background vocals on three tracks. Doyouwrite all the songs yourself?Who's in charge?Or do you all equallyparticipate in the various stages of creating newmusic? All of the songs were entirely self-written except for ‘Eter

Photo © Echo Road nity’ and ‘She is My Songbird’.The first one we wrote back in 2018 with Aidan Polemeni, as he was in the band at the time. With ‘She is My Songbird’, Mario was stuck on how to write the pre-chorus and then brought the tune into his music teacher who ended up contributing to that section. It’s quite a critical part for the build-up to the chorus.Each song has its own story of creation, but Mario and Luke generally write the lyrics with the music being composed by each at different times. You've recently played some gigs. Any future plans for more shows? Maybe also a tour? Music videos? We have a ton of shows planned through July as part of the upcoming Only in Dreams Tour presented by Sovereign Stage Productions, and we have some fantastic supporting acts lined up like Jude and the Strangers, The Wednesdays, Crooked Ways, Nick and the Leg Heavy Boys, and many others. Our album release show is at the Maywood Knights of Columbus on April 22, 2022 with 'Jude and the Strangers' opening. Tickets are $15 and include complimentary food and beverage.Definitelykeep an eye out on our YouTube this spring as we will be discussing and breaking down a few of our tracks in entirety. Funniest moment you ever had at a gig? The funniest moment we have had on stage was at a recent - 11 - gig where Mario decided to improvise the ‘Fresh Prince of Bel-Air’ theme song over the beginning of Stevie Wonder’s Superstition. Name each other's biggest flaws…;) For Mario, Michael, Gabe, and Luke, their respective weaknesses are perfectionism, dying on hills, volume (he’s the bassist), and vegetables. Other plans,wishes, dreams? Our focus is the album at the moment, but the year is still young.There are some tentative plans for some other music projects in the upcoming seasons.We have also been toying with the idea of short films of late. Some last words to our readers? Dusk is Born to Die Britta Tabrit facebook.com/echoroadband instagram.com/echoroadband/ YouTube: Echo Road -YouTube www.peek-a-boo-magazine.be

FRAGRANCE - Salt Water (CD / Vinyl / Digital) (Synth Religion) Fragrance, the solo project of Matthieu Roche from Paris is back.After his great debut album NowThat I'm Real from 2019,he returns with the follow-up album Salt Water. His catchy,melancholic dream-pop-synth-sound, often supported by pounding bass thumps and his sensual vocals... It's still all there. He is one of the musicians of Hélène De Thoury's (aka Hante) Synth Religion label. Fragrance balances on the edges between synth-wave,dream-pop,minimal and synth-wave. For all I care, he can fall off that edge, because it doesn't matter a damn thing. He keeps mesmerizing us,whatever he does.This SaltWater is a veryworthy successor to his debut.He is in the purebred stable of the Synth Religion label, so let him work out his devils.This is a top notch musician who has a lot to offer which he just proved here with verve. [JB] THE PULSEBEATS - LOOKIN’OUT (CD / Digital) The newest release,Lookin’Out, is not a major step forward for The Pulsebeats, rather, just a damn good record. The quartet does a brilliant job of not only uniting energy with punk-rock (which can sometimes be a difficult task) but bringing a rockabilly feel to the songs. Comparing life to a movie, The Pulsebeats bring a certain cinematic element to their songwriting.Our life does not always resemble a movie. Either good or bad. But if some artists tend to create the feeling of euphoria, The Pulsebeats are like your good friends - they're around with a hand on your shoulder.They almost tell you: Don’t worry, sit down, relax, enjoy the picture, no matter what happens the story will end positively. Just like the quartet finishing the record with the closing track ( and the brilliant one! ) “Coma State”. [DV] ANALFABETISM - Rotvälta (CD / Digital) Stockholm’s centipede Fredrik Djurfeldt is a musician of multiple talents.Besides being the front man of EBM act Severe Illusion, and being part of the fantastic ALVAR, this Swedish artist also has a much darker and more obscure side/project; Analfabetism. With this alter ego he fully exposes and exploits the world's dark-ambient and noisey soundscapes.This particular album he dedicated to Sten... Sten being Fredrik's cat that has sadly passed away... On this album, Rotvälta (Swedish for a turned over tree root - hence the cover artwork),Herr Djurfel, as he calls himself,used sounds which somehow seemed to move Sten.So we can say, together, they created six lengthy dark and doomy sound tapestry tracks, almost all exceeding an equal amount of minutes. Take your favourite drink in hand, sit or lay down on your most comfortable couch, switch off the light, turn on this album... and shiver! If you are a fan of dark, ominous, industrial ambient soundscapes you should definitely check this out! (Self-released) [HH] ARMAGEDDON DILDOS - Desctruction (EP (Digital) ‘Destruction’ is the second single / EP taken from German EBM bands’ album Dystopia which was released in 2020 and features 6 previously unreleased songs and mixes.This ‘Destruction’ EP represents, once again, the album’s ambiguous sound hanging between hard and aggressive Electro industrial andmoremelodic danceable 80s influences synth music. Next to the album version this EP also features a “darkroom” mix, with different vocals and a fully revamped instrumentations. Then Alfa-Matrix label mates Aiboforcen and Alien Vampires have a go on, respectively,‘Ohne Dich’ and ‘Burn Baby Burn’ and turn them into genuine dance floor fillers. Also Lights Of Euphoria did a great job giving www.peek-a-boo-magazine.be ‘Dance On Dead Bodies’ a nice sort of Nitzer Ebb's ‘Lightning Man’ touch.The EP ends in beauty with a rather mellowmelodic interpretation of‘Ohne Dich’byMessiaen Noir.One might like the beauty, but we certainly adore the beast on this EP,‘Colder’! - 12 - [HH] Read full reviews on http://www.peek-a-boo-magazine.be/en/reviews/ (Alfa-Matrix)

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MARROWVOLTAGE There is always a strong, dominating motif behind any of our songs. A feeling, a powerful association. For example, the gravitational force of an abyss underneath you. Can you please introduce yourself to our readers. Who are you andwhat is your musical goal? We are MarrowVoltage from the south of Germany. We are aiming to produce cineastic worlds of sound as well as complex clubtracks. We are 3 persons: Jos Svyati who plays cello and loop-station, Som Bonito and myself (Dr. Wonka). Som and I are responsible for synths and drums. We signed with Young & Cold Records in 2019 and our debut albumwill be out this summer. How did you come up with the unconventional idea to combine a cellowith synthesizers? Jos and I have played cello and piano in a neo-classic band (Diodati). In 2017 we realised that we wanted to make music for a non-sitting audience, so we started to combine the organic warmth of the cello with synthesizer sounds. In the beginning we exclusively worked with hardware synths and groove-boxes but we soon came to realise that this is quite www.peek-a-boo-magazine.be - 14 - overwhelming. At least, it gives no room for a spontaneous performance This is the point where Som comes into play. He helps us to stay with the sonic complexity but also being able to really make music. We want to have this playful approach to our tracks, the composition, the audience and the atmosphere of the evening. Still, we really want to play live as much as possible. Speaking ofyour live performances.What can your audience expect fromyou? A rich world of sound, inviting to mental movies and of course to dance.We are dedicated to music with our hearts and souls. We´ve been inmanymusical projects and have plenty of stage experience.We try to put all of our personality and musicality into our music.This is especially true when it comes to playing live. (Continues on p.16)

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MARROWVOLTAGE If I'm correct you started with producing instrumental music only, now vocals can be heard ...how and why did this change? That´s right.To open oneself and therefor becoming a physical part of the music is quite a challenge. Maybe especially for electro-musicians but we recognised that we can put a critical element into our tracks which would have not been possible otherwise. Intensive feelings are transported easily by vocals, spoken, whispered, sung. Tracks become songs, to achieve that you have to bare your soul. What is your inspiration and aim in making music? There is always a strong, dominating motif behind any of our songs. A feeling, a powerful association. For example, the gravitational force of an abyss underneath you. The movement of mighty and elegant creatures in the sea. This helps us to stay with the artistical aspect while composing and producing. If one wants to enjoy the sound, be attracted by nice or interesting melodies, or just move to the beats, that´s strictly up to the listener. What are you working right now and what can be expected for the year to come? The work on our debutalbum hasn´t all been that easy. The LP/vinyl will be available in about 3 months from now. At the moment we are working hard on getting our live set together. When we are finished with that of course we want to play live as much as possible Do you have a dream that you want to fulfill with your music? Well, yes! First of all, we hope to somehow reach as many people with our music as possible and get them to like it, of course. Playing live is one of the best ways to do this.On the other hand, our music has a strong cinematic side already. If someone would ask us to make music for a movie or a video game,we would be in. We try to keep the context open in which our music shall be performed.Making (live)music for silentmovies could also be an interesting challenge. Lena DAUTEL facebook.com/MarrowVoltage www.peek-a-boo-magazine.be - 16 -

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ADULT. Two years after their initial European tour should have happened to support their album PERCEPTION IS/ AS/OF DECEPTION, ADULT. finally made it back to Europe! During the global Covid pandemic the couple haven't been hibernating but are presenting us yet another brand new album BECOMING UNDONE! Those lucky ones who were present at their fantastic concert at Magasin 4 in 2018 know this event is not to be missed! More than enough reasons to have a little chat with the band! Let's start with your name, why did you chose the name ADULT. as a band name? We wanted something generic in nature,something that the music would fuse into the name, not that the name would somehow try to describe the sound. We also thought band names like Sonic Youth were problematic as a band aged. Then we were playing one of our favourite records - Soft Cell’s Non Stop Ecstatic Dancing - and the image on the back gave us the idea. Were you aware of the confusing and distracting google results this name choice would lead too? Or maybe that was your the intention, to create confusion and thus gain attention? We choose our band name in early 1998 with our first 12” going into production in early summer of 1998. www.peek-a-boo-magazine.be - 18 - Google launched 4th Sept 1998. So we are before Google. Your previous album was called PERCEPTION IS/ AS/OF DECEPTION while your brand new album title is BECOMING UNDONE... can you elaborate a bit on those titles/albums for our readers? We are happy to talk about either album, though this tour is for both albums since we weren’t able to tour on Perception. PERCEPTION IS/AS/OF DECEPTION came out 10 April 2020. And to elaborate on the title and album PERCEPTION IS/AS/OF DECEPTION - that album is largely based on seeing and not seeing. How we as individuals and society chose what we want to see and not see. The problematic aspects of social media on culture. The cultural vandalism we are left with at the end of the day from corporations and politicians. Throughout your releases your "musical style" sometimes shifted from a very minimal old school electro approach, over to an almost the genuine "new wave" sound of, for instance, the D.U.M.E EP and Gimmie Trouble album, to the more clubby sounding This Behavior... Is it your way to let's say "confuse the cat" or have a bit of fun with the narrow-minded electro heads? Any explanation of how these seemingly musical changes sometimes occur?

We do enjoy messing with the genre algorithms but that’s not why our sound changes so much. We just do exactly what we want. We are not worried about audience expectation and feel very lucky that our fans have followed through so many changes.Yet, we do feel at the end of the day everything we put out has an ADULT. stamp on it. You have already had a lot of collaborations with various artists but who is still on your bucket list? Yes, the 2017 collaborative album Detroit House Guests on Mute was an amazing experience. Working with Douglas J McCarthy from Nitzer Ebb, Michael Gira from Swans, Shannon Funchess from Light Asylum, Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe aka Lichens, Austrian thereminist Dorit Chrysler and multidisciplinary artist Lun*na Menoh was an incredible experience! We are currently working with Justin Pearson from the Locust and Luke Henshaw. There are so many people we would love to work with - too hard to answer… How do you both generally go about creating a new track? We go in the studio and we try to get 2 layered lines that interact together well. Something the sounds unique. If we go in the studio with intention we almost make a song that is opposite. We call that process the slippery fish. We work to make the process always different. Sometimes it’s 10 demos in 10 days, sometimes it is working on the same song for days. Which are you favourite all time instruments and which is your most recent treasure? Favourites: Korg Mono/Poly Sequential Circuits Pro One Roland CR78 New: We just got our Moog Minimoog serviced and it seriously sounds like a brand new synth! Nowadays it seems to be rather cool to be an analogue or even modular synth wizard and user and since you both clearly like to use lots of (analogue) hardware, including in your live set-up, I wonder how far you stay away from software plug-ins and other digital - 19 - www.peek-a-boo-magazine.be

ADULT. (Continuation of p.19) struggle of C-19 in the album, while at the same time the album is not about Covid in any way. Nowadays it seems to be rather cool to be an analogue or even modular synth wizard and user and since you both clearly like to use lots of (analogue) hardware, including in your live set-up, I wonder how far you stay away from software plug-ins and other digital technology? Are you both sort of analogue purists? :-) We are not purists. We use a few plug ins in Logic like compression, spreaders, etc. We have some digital pedals. We’re really impressed with the Roland boutiques. We have the actual Juno 106 and JU06 and like them both for their unique qualities. How did you "survive" the C-19 pandemic so far? Did it have an influence on your creative outlet or motivation? It was a hard time for everyone I think. It was very hard for us.We had a new album and a huge tour planned but after about 8 months we finally started to feel creative again (especially after the presidential election) and decided to write a new album. I think you can hear the www.peek-a-boo-magazine.be - 20 - Today it seems like Europe is slowly going back to normal but personally I have the feeling, and fear a bit, "we" lost quite a number of people due to being now glued to their comfy Saturday night soap / Netflix couch... What would you like to say to them in order to kick their lazy **s out of that sofa and to get them to attend your current live show? Having a shared experience is so important for the body and mind. Coming together as a community of weirdos and outsiders helps you have a little bit of hope in culture and humankind. That you’re not alone, there’s others out there like you. You don’t get this full immersion at home alone. And we have worked and risked so much to make this tour happen, so pleeeeeease come get wild!!! Fred Gadget adultperiod.com facebook.com/adultperiod

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THEREBELRIOT On1st February2021-exactlyoneyear ago-the armyinMyanmar tookpower.The2020electionresults,inwhichtheNationalLeague for DemocracyofNobel Prizewinner and democracy iconAung San Suu Kyi again obtained an absolute majority,werewiped out. Since then, there have been violent protests and the civil war has flared up again in the country. Myanmar also has a committed punk community.The Rebel Riot is one of themost important bands and is at the forefront of the fight against the coup.We had a conversationwith singer KyawKyaw. On the first of February, it was one year ago that the military coup tookplace.Back then, themilitarypromised to hand over the power to a civilian government after one year but of course I don’t think thiswill happen.What doyou thinkwill happen? I thinkthings arewell out ofhand for them.The revolutionarymovement is too strong.After the English colonisation,in 1948,we gained independence.In 1962 themilitary took the power.In 1988,we had a big revolution but themilitary took power again.After the coup in 2021,things are totally different than in the past.After one year,people are still fighting and they keep on fighting.The military didn’t manage it well.People are still protesting,keepingup theCivilDisobedienceMovement (CDM),they are fighting with the armed force and so on.Artists and politicians are still showing solidarity with the protest movement.After one year, the people’s revolutionarymind and spirit are still big. On the first ofFebruarylast year,you heard about the coup.Was it a surprise for you or not? Iwas surprised but I had also thought before that theywould take power. I was informed but when I heard they took power for real, it was a surprise and shock.But that drove us to do something against that coup. Whatwas your first reactionwhenyou heard about the coup? Iwalked aroundmytownship and checked howpeople felt.Alot ofpeople were shocked and sad.I felt sad too.I didn’t knowwhat to do in the futurewith thismilitarysystem.Iwas also verysad for the young people and the next generation.These weremy first feelings after the coup. Youwere one of the first to go out on the street to protest the coup, which started a fewdays after the coup.Howdid that go? It started on 5th February. I’m not an organiser. I just wanted to show my solidarity with other people. I got a message that we should demonstrate at 4 pm in this specific area. I went to support this crew but the organiser didn’t come.We didn’t knowwhat to do.The media were also waiting.Many other people were there.We were confused. Should we start on our own or just leave? 4:30, nothing happened; 4:45, still nothing.When we left,my friend started showing three fingers on the street (the three finger salute was inspired by the movie ‘The Hunger Games’ and became the symbol of the protests, xk), and then everybody started showing three fingers. The media noticed it. www.peek-a-boo-magazine.be - 22 - We didn’t talk,we didn’t pull the banner,we just showed the threefinger salute and walked on.A lot of people were happy and were clapping for us.They were applauding from their flats and from the buses.The media took pictures and made videos. I was so shocked and scared.I didn’t knowwhat to do.After this,I deletedmy facebook account and I hidmyself. You had to hide? So,you cannotwalk freelyinYangon? If they recognised me or other people in the newspaper, they would arrest us for sure. But we were lucky because after we went to demonstrate … the next day,a lot of people were on the streets.So, our demonstration disappeared. On 6th February, a lot of people were showing solidarityagainst the coup.That was good luck.Otherwise,I would have been arrested. Onemonth after themilitarycoup,you released the video for‘One Day’. It was a song that you were already working on before the coup. It was a great video, also with the three fingers salute that you justmentioned.Whatwas the impact of that video? This song was already made before the coup.We imagined … One Day…a futurewithout anydiscrimination,wedon’twant anyoppression, we don’t want any military, no corruption, no wars … because our country has known so many civil wars.We have the longest civil war in theworld!We have a lot of discrimination between Islamand Buddhismandwe have had amilitary systemfor so long.From2010 to 2020,we had so-called ‘democracy’,but people didn’t really have human rights andwere not free to speak.In the parliament,themilitarypower was still there.They controlled it frombehind the scenes. The release of the CD‘One Day’was delayed because peoplewere afraidtoworkwithyou.Theprintersdidn’twant toworkonit.What happened? It was very difficult.We knew that it was risky when we released it. It’s like walking on a string. I think: ‘they do their job,we do our job’.They took the power and try tomanage it,and we wanted to release this CD. It’s not just music,it is showing our attitude.They try to showhow they control us,andwewant to showthat we are free.They’re trying to push us downandwe are trying to standup.That’s howwe relate to this idea. You sing about the protests in‘The Night Will Not Be Silenced’.At first,the protestswere peaceful,asyou sing in the song.Itwas civil disobedience, banging on pans and pots but there has been an evolution towards a civil war. There has always been a civil war since the independence ofMyanmar in1948but it has brokenout in a much harder way. Howwas that evolution between peaceful protest and armed protest? 95% of the population hate the military.We have been in a military system for so long.Alot of families have peoplemissing or killed.So, people deeply resent the military.When the military took the power again, this anger was coming back but we never start the violence.

The peaceful protests were right but the military shot at us, in the head,in thebody…so,the anger exploded andpeoplewanted to fight back.Some people don’t believe in peaceful protest anymore.Because even if we stay peaceful, they will never stay peaceful …That’s why a lot of young people,teenage people,a lot ofmy friends,peoplewhose familyor friends died…choose the armed resistance. In a way, you already answered my question.A lot of young people are leaving the city to fight with rebel groups, also ethnic rebel groups or the People’s Defence Force. Is this a bigmovement? Yes, it is a big movement. In the past, the Burmese army attacked the Shan people, the Kachin people…Then the Shan and Kachin people fought back.But with the PDF, the Burmese people are attacking the Burmesearmy.TherearenowtwoBurmesearmies fightingeachother. Another song on the album is ‘Genocide’. I think this is about the ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya minority in 2016-2017. You said already that muslims are still persecuted. How is the situation with themnow? When we wrote the ‘Genocide’ song in 2018, some people agreed that this was a genocide but other people disagreed.The government, the NLD (National League for Democracy, the party that was in power between 2015 and 2021, xk), the Tatmadaw … they don’t want to hear about agenocide.Theytell us that therewas nogenocide.That’swhywe made a song that was called ‘Genocide’, to stress that it was an actual genocide.We don’t use theword‘Rohingya’butwewanted to stress that a lot ofpeople in theRakhine statewere fleeing their houses and dying. Everybody knows that wemean the Rohingya people,right. Another song is‘Food Not Bombs’.We are aware of your Food Not Bombs project in which you distribute food to people in need in Yangon. I’ve understood from your facebook that you also have a Food Not Bombs programme directed to the Rohingya people. Is that correct? Yes. But we are not in the refugee camps in Bangladesh. Some Rohingya people are still in the Rakhine state (the part of Myanmar where the Rohingya live,xk).We are supporting the Rohingya people who stayed in the Rakhine state. Yes but you live in Yangon. The Rakhine state is far away. So, the FoodNot Bombs-projectmust be a big organisation… No, it is not a big organisation.We have a lot of influence on young people.Theylike Rebel Riot and it’s not onlyabout themusic.Theylike our way of thinking,our way of living,they like our ideas…some fans of Rebel Riot who live in Rakhine state wanted to start a Food Not Bombs chapter in their own state because if you want to support our band,you should not buythe CDormerchandising but you should just showit through your attitude.That’s howthe chapter in Rakhine state started.We don’t need to go there.We canmeet with a zoommeeting and share our ideas and brainstorm.We are not only active in Rakhine state.We have chapters in Dawei,Mandalay,Mon state,Bago… sometimes I go and joinbut normallyI live in the city.We arenowalso starting a new chapter in Kachin state. I don’t need to go. I just meet with people on internet and sharemy ideas. - 23 - Let’s go back to the start of Rebel Riot.You started the band after the Saffron Revolution in 2007. You already said that it was very different from now but the Saffron Revolution was also a big revolution against the military. What differences do you see between nowand then? Backthen,the buddhistmonkswere starting the revolution.We are a traditional buddhist country, so everybody thought: ‘they can arrest everybody but not the monks’. People didn’t expect the military to turn on the monks.Usually, the people are afraid of the military but now they thought that they were many and the monks supported them.They thought the military could not kill or arrest a monk.They have to respect the monks but they did not. They shot and killed many people.So,people were very scared.A lot of people died.That mademe think and I startedmakingmusic after that. Let’s go back to the music. I like the way you mix the Burmese languagewith English inyour songs.Whydoyou do that?You speak Burmese but you also fit in somewords in English inmanysongs. It’s our style since we created the band.As we write our music, the choruses aremainlyEnglishwhile the verses are in theBurmese language.We tried to translate it in Burmese but it didn’t workwell.Our English is not so difficult.We use a type of English that everybody understands.We also have international people who support us,and they like it. But I cannot write a full song in English. I’m very bad at singing in English but even if people don’t understand the whole song,theyunderstand the chorus.TheBurmese language ismoredifficult to translate andmore difficult to shout. I have just one final question.You’re in a strugglewith themilitary, there’s a civil war going on, there is still a civil disobedience movement going on … Do you think the people can win this struggle? Can the people defeat themilitary? I don’t knowwhat will happen.I’m not a politician.But I strongly believe that ifwe fight every day,we must win for sure.Also,we are already winning. People keep fighting and are believing in it.And the military, the Tatmadaw, are scared. Even if they have guns, they still fear us.So,we have alreadywon.We’re doing what we believe in every day.They are doing what they’re fearing every day.We have a lot of artists defying the military. I cannot predict the future but if we keep doingwhat we believe in,we will win one day. (Read more on wwww.peek-a-boo-magazine.be) Xavier KRUTH therebelriot.bandcamp.com / facebook.com/therebelriot www.peek-a-boo-magazine.be

LACRIMOSA Lacrimosahasdeliveredanotherbeautifulalbumwith‘Leidenschaft’, in their well known mix of gothic with symphonic orchestratedmetal.Wehad thechance todiscuss the recordwith mastermindTiloWolff,and theman appears tobe quitephilosophical aswell as veryreligious.He denies that the record revolves entirely around the corona pandemic - as we initially thought - although he does address the subject. But let's just listen towhat he has to say. Dear Tilo. Congratulations on a new masterpiece. ‘Leidenschaft’ is, again, a great Lacrimosa album. When reading the lyrics, I couldn't help but notice that the title is linkedwith the corona pandemic. Is the subtitle ‘Eine Geschichte der entflammbaren Seele’ (a story of an incendiary soul) also connected to the pandemic? And does this make'Leidenschaft' a concept album? TILOWOLFF: First of all,thankyou for your nicewords about the new album! I am happy when people like it,because I love this album very much! And yes, somehow this is as much a concept album as all other Lacrimosa albums because every album has its inner core around which all songs are circling.The name of each album sets the theme and each song takes on this theme in its own way, explores and reflects on it.This is also the case here again,even thoughwe didn’t divide the album into several acts. But this album is all about ‘Leidenschaft’, which can’t be translated one to one with the Englishword‘passion’because in the German word the meaning of suffering is part of the interpretation of the word.And this brings us to the subtitle because to feel Leidenschaft is like burning from the inside! So this subtitle is not so much connected to the pandemic but more to the deeper meaning of the album title‘Leidenschaft’.It is impossible to escape the topic of corona these days. In‘Kulturasche’(CulturalAshes),you lament on thewayculture hasbeen treated.Just at the timewhereweneeded it themost, times of loneliness and fear, the culture sector was closed down.Didyou suffer personallyfromthe cultural lockdown? TILOWOLFF: Yes,you describe it right. It is a crying shame! And www.peek-a-boo-magazine.be - 24 - in that sense,I am suffering in this situation.I didn’t suffer mentally in the lockdown but I see how people lost their jobs and theatres, clubs and restaurants had to close and I noticed how much the people would need culture and art in these bitter times! So yes, this song is all about the way in which governments areblind to theentirepicture in the fight against thevirus –it is good and important to fight against it but this fight should not turn against the people but it did. The song ‘Augenschein’ (Eyeglance) also deals with the pandemic, in particularwith the heated debates about the restrictions, thevaccines,et cetera.You also sing‘Not everythingnew is good for us /Not everything is progress’.What do youmean bythis? TILO WOLFF: This song is only partly about the pandemic.The phraseyoupickedout is about thebeliefofeveryupcominggeneration, that theywould know everything better. If we look back into history, we clearly can see that this is not the case. Many people only see their own state ofmind and their own personal needs and are blind to the whole.For example,take the climate crisis.People living in the countryside,taking care of sustainable cultivation and the environment,are attacked as environmental polluters when they drive to the citywith their SUVs,which they need out in the countryside because of the lack of public transportation and of proper roads out there. Just the same, which topicwe pickout,toomanypeople think theyknowbestwithout having inmind,that they don’t see the entire picture. The song‘Die Liebenden’ (The Lovers) seems to bring salvation, and goes back to a classic theme in the lyrics of Lacrimosa: love. The pandemic has restricted our freedoms but freedom can always be found in true love. Is this themessage of the song? Canyou elaborate on that? TILO WOLFF: This album is much less about the pandemic as youmight think.I wrote this song before Covid started,but yes,I think that freedom is to be found in love.This brings us back to theprevious topicbecause I have the feeling that thepeopleunlearn to be caring for each other. Everyone is busy with them

selves in striving to optimallyexpand one's own freedom,forgetting that personal freedom only extends as far as the state of mind of the other person. Jesus said it perfectly: “Treat others always as you would like them to treat you” (Matthew 7:12).This says it all,but well,every generation thinks they knowit better… In the video for ‘Raubtier’ (Predator), you introduced two new characters: Jean-Gustave de Geulasse and Lacristobal, both playedbyyourself.Canyou tell usmore about these characters andwhytheyentered theworld ofLacrimosa? TILOWOLFF: Haha,yes,my new friends and enemies.Well, JeanGustave of course ismyarch enemy,the onewho should have no reason to be respected in our society, he stands for all those selfish, self-centered people who make the life of others miserable.Well,and Lacristobal is my alter ego,full of passion and desire,living like a ghost inside ofme. You also choose to playalmost all the instruments yourself on ‘Leidenschaft’. Only Anne Nurmi and drummer Michael Mohr are present on most songs, with some appearances of JP Genkel and of course the Lacrimosa SessionOrchestra.Whydo you choose to playalmost everything yourself rather that askingmore guestmusicians to playonyour album? TILOWOLFF: That was on one hand due to the pandemic.Most of the time, it was nearly impossible to plan recording sessions because traveling was not so easy.On the other hand, it was the most natural and direct way to capture all the emotions and all the little details I had inmind.It’s the pure Lacrimosa way! You chose to release‘Leidenschaft’on the dayofChristmas.We know that you are a devoted Christian. Is this the reason that you choseChristmas,or didother things alsoplaya role inyour decision? TILO WOLFF: Actually, the reason for this decision was, that this album is something very special for me.To record this albumwas an unbelievable journey,it was nervewracking,exhausting,intoxicating,uplifting and sometimes devastating and therewere times when I could hardlybelieve that I would ever be able to finish the album.After it was completed I was so thankful and happy that it felt like it become the most wonderful present. So, this was the idea tobring it out at Christmas,apresent for all Lacrimosa lovers! Speaking ofChristianity.You have said before that you are also active in your own Christian community. I always wondered how the other people in the community reacted towards this extravagant gothic artist that you are... TILOWOLFF: Well, they knowme and they take me as I am.This is the Christianway,as one can read in the scriptures:“For not as man judges–forman judges according to the eyes,but the LORD judges according to the heart.” (1Sam 9:2) True believers are living in the knowledge,that every person is a creation of God,and that God loves everyone.So,who are we to judge others? - 25 - If I remember rightly, when you released the compilation ‘Zeitreise’ in 2019, you promised a new Lacrimosa album in 2020, obviously in light of the 30th anniversary of Lacrimosa. You even included a song on‘Zeitreise’ that was supposed to be on the new album. Can you tell us why the album was delayed andwhy‘ImSchattender Sonne’is not featuredon‘Leidenschaft’? Didyouwritemore songs that arenot featuredon‘Leidenschaft’? TILOWOLFF: The delaywas due to the pandemic situation.I so much wanted to have the new studio album out to celebrate the 30th anniversary,but Covid got in the way.And yes, I wrote some more songs and about “Im Schatten der Sonne” it turned out that it was the perfect link between“Testimonium”and‘Leidenschaft’–just last night I heard the song again and was convinced again that thiswas the right decision,even though I love this song,it was a pleasure listening to it again–though it does not fit into the concept of‘Leidenschaft’asmuch as all the other songs that found their way on to this album. In 2020, you released the‘30th anniversary box’, a box with three CDs and lots of other things like a calender, a flag, a memorygame...Thisboxwas soldexclusivelythrough theHall OfSermonwebshop.I love theCDs contained in thebox,especially the ‘Live 2015’ CD. What was the idea behind the box andwhymake it an exclusivityfor onlyyour handcore fans? TILO WOLFF: After I realised that ‘Leidenschaft’ wouldn’t be ready for the anniversary,I wanted to fulfill mypromise,in comingupwith somethingnew,at least in this sense,and togive the audience something special, to make the people happy in this special year! This was the idea behind this box and therefore it only come through our shop because it wasmeant to be for our closest audience,those who are livingwith Lacrimosa. Iwant to finishwith a question about an earlier album.‘Echos’ is a disc beloved by many of your fans, internationally. The recordwas perhaps a verydifficult one again.This is the only post-1993albumthatwas not followedupbya tour andonly a limited number of songs can be played live, due to the importance of the symphonic orchestra on ‘Echos’. What were you aiming at with this album and what other important things shouldwe knowabout this classic? TILOWOLFF:One thing shouldbe known,that thepeopledidn’t like the album at all when it was released.One bigmetal magazine even told me that theywould no longer write about Lacrimosa, because Lacrimosa has turned its back on metal with this album.Yes, this albumwas not treated nicely either by the Lacrimosa audience and also not by thosewho never liked Lacrimosa. I was a little confused back then because I myself was very happy with this album, I thought it was a masterpiece but with this in mind I was quite alone back then.Well, I was surprised to realise,that many years later some people popped up telling me that this was their favourite album. I thought ‘where are you now coming from and where have you been all these years’.Yes,sometimes things are prettyweird. Xavier KRUTH www.peek-a-boo-magazine.be

25YEARSOFAHRAYEPH 25 years, that's howlongAhráyeph has been around.Or rather: in 1996, the first demo of Crucifire, the predecessor of Ahráyeph, was released. In 2021 the ‘XXV’-E.P. was released by Ahráyeph, which had to celebrate a quarter of a century of music by Raf Ahráyeph–RafJansen for the friends.We thought thiswas a great opportunity to review the most important dates from this ‘proggoth’career with Raf.We had manyquestions, and Raf has always answered extensivelyand remarkablycandidly.So it turned out to be a long, but very interesting interview. 1996: You record your first demo for Crucifire, a goth metal band which is a precursor forAhráyeph.Tell me howthat came about? At that time,I used to live in an old convent,which also housed university students.Among others,Steven Zwaenepoel,now road manager for dEUS, lived there. In 1995, Jo, Crucifire’s bassist to be, got a room in Steven’s hallway for the duration of his nursing apprenticeship.We kept in touch afterwards and because he had toldme of his band,Sarcastic,I went to a rehearsal of theirs in the Spring of 1996. They mostly played cover songs, like Therapy?’s ‘Teethgrinder’. I had already laid the initial foundations for Crucifire with a first demo, recorded on an analog four track back in 1995,andwas nowlooking for a band. Jo, playing bass, and his buddies David and Peter were competent musicians,so I proposed to segue their band into mine. 1996-1997: You start playing in the black metal band Ancient Rites. Is that the reasonwhyCrucifire got sidetracked? I have to adjust that timeline a bit: I’ve played in Ancient Rites for about six months that first time, from September 1996 till March 1997,with a one-off stand in gig in May,when Erik couldn’t make it to the concert.My addition to that band wasn’t the reason why Crucifire got sidetracked, though, because the band kept existing, until early1998.Acouple of the rehearsal demos we recorded during that time, I later crafted into songs that appeared on the first few Ahráyeph releases (e.g.,‘Cure/Divine/Madness’). No, the reason for Crucifire’s slowdemise had more to do with the fact that first Jo and then Geert quit, respectively due to studies and work commitments. For a while, that dampened Peter and David’s enthusiasm, but one by one they returned. 2001: Crucifire dies a quiet death, but around the turn of the centuryyou reboot the project.You change the name toAhráyeph and steer the ship towards gothic rock, without the metal influences. What was your motivation to start over? Well,itmay sound funny,but that first demo played a big part in that. I met the drummer of a band that often had opened for Ancient Rites.He was a fan of the songs on the demo and sang their praises in the presence of friends ofmine,who onlyknewmyalt rockproject Sole, so they became curious about what I had done prior to that. However, I was too embarrassed about its bad quality to let them listen to it.Eventually,though,it did happen and one of them,one of the biggest fans ofThe Sisters OfMercy I’ve known,was of the opinion that Crucifire was where my heart was at more than those alternative songs.That made me think, and after a couple days of brainstorming,I decided he was right and rebooted Crucifire. www.peek-a-boo-magazine.be - 26 - 2004-2007: You once again become amember ofAncient Rites. You’ve contributed significantly to this band in this period, especially as a song writer on the‘Rubicon’album. In 2007you leave Ancient Rites to concentrate on Ahráyeph.What do you remember about your time in the band? Oh boy…You got a couple ofhours?Alot happened back then,both good and bad.To keep it positive: we’ve played several great gigs. There was the Revoltallo XIII festival in Vigo, Spain, where we played on amountainwhich looked out over the baywhere the city lay.Abeautiful spot,which had a restaurant nearbywhich was situated under a large rock.Fascinating.The audience was truly amazing that night.I had contracted a twenty-four-hour flu from the air conditioning on the plane and played with a fever, but the audience was so riled up they really pulled me through with their unbridled enthusiasm. 2008: it’s finallyhere:‘Marooned on Samsara’,Ahráyeph’s debut. I’ve come to understand it was a difficult undertaking, because even though you had a band, you’ve recorded a lot of it byyourself.Howhappywere youwith this album? I was happy that the album was released and got the opportunity to do so via D-Monic. Contrary to what you often hear, I’ve never had any complaints about the label that released‘Samsara’.They’ve always treated me fairly and stuck to the contract and the agreements we made. It’s just unfortunate they weren’t able to provide tour support because they weren’t big enough to do that. I’m sure they would have if they could have. That could’ve made a difference. 2013: You get the diagnosis of having Autism Spectrum Disorder. On the one hand, you’re extremely intelligent, on the other you have issues with things that are mere afterthoughts to the average person.Doyou think this disorder had an impact onyour workwithAhráyeph? Without a shadowof a doubt.Everything I do,right or wrong,is being determined by my disorder. It’s only when I got that diagnosis, that I started to realise how deep the impact of it has been on everything I’m doing and everything I’ve experienced. Allowme to say that I think it important to be open aboutmyA.S.D. Some people,even fellowmusicians,have tried to pressureme and told me I shouldn’t,but especially in times like these and after everything I’ve been through, it’s important to me to be able to be who I am. And I’ve also always supported other people in their quest to be who they are. I was bullied in high school, my family looked down on me… I ended up with bouts of prolonged severe depression and an extremely negative self-image because of that; I constantlyhit the walls ofmyown boundaries,I was (and still am) considered a weirdo because I react in a raw and unfiltered way to everything,something I still often do because unfortunately,it’s beyond my control. Ahráyeph is my self therapy. 2015: It takes seven years before there’s a follow up to ‘Marooned on Samsara’, a delay caused in part by a serious burn out. Nevertheless, ‘AnimAElegy’ is a real gem. This time you

record everything yourself, except for guest musicians on drums and keyboards.Are you still proud of this album? Definitely.I have to correct you,though: Ness was not a guest musician, but a band member in Ahráyeph’s last live line up. It’s too bad she, too, had to give priority to her job, because she was without a doubt theAhráyeph bandmember whomeant the most tome,both on a personal and a musical level.I still miss working with her. 2016: You release the'Desert Songs'-E.P., building on the work of Robin Proper-Sheppard -a man who you happen to knowpersonally-and his band The God Machine. Can you elaborate on the inspiration behind the ep? I wouldn’t say I was building on Robin and his previous band’s work necessarily with this E.P. The God Machine are, as you know, a big influence of mine, but I’ve only borrowed that title, because when I was writing the songs, they evoked a desert like atmosphere in me. My mother, who is by no means a fan, observed a couple of times that I ‘write cinematic music’and when it comes to ‘Desert Songs’ in particular,I do agree with that assessment.While I was composing,I kept envisioning scenes of big sand dunes, red evening skies with a sun setting on a horizon trembling from the heat, caravans ploughing through the sands, trying to reach an oasis and nightly desert skies lit up by stars and planets. 2018: You release the ‘Heavy like the ancient sun’ album, an homage to your deceased friend James Blaast!™.What was your motivation behind that? James was,without exaggeration,mybest friend.Our friendship was completely mutual, something I can’t say of many other people. It’s hard to explain why our friendship was so special… It just clicked from the first moment we met.James wasn’t always the easiest person to get along with. He was very outspoken and didn’t mince words to the point where if his words had actually been meat, he could provide the whole of Scotland with prime, unminced beef for years.But contrary to where he’d stick to his guns with other people, he’d alwaysmake the effort tomake amends and respectmyboundaries. On the other hand, James was the most loyal friend a person could’ve had. He never thought twice about giving me a Facetime call and if I took too long to do so myself, I’d get a good natured ‘ERSE!’ in my mailbox, signalling it was high time for me to return the favour. Those calls turned into one- or two-hour conversations, sometimes twice that. 2018: You release a reworked version of‘Marooned on Samsara’ digitally. All songs were re-recorded. Were you that dissatisfied with the original recordings? I was,actually.In the interim,myknowledge ofmusic production had improved exponentially, and I also had better tools to implement them.I’mspeaking in particular of the speakers I was using,the right studio speakers,which are different fromhi fi speakers,make a huge difference. It’s something I learned empirically. All of a sudden, I didn’t have toworkas hard to get a goodmix,because I had a clearer sonic picture to work from.Additionally,the CD version of the album was sold out and no longer available.This made me feel it was the right time to re-record it and right a fewwrongs.On top of that,I had a run in on Youtube with an American publishing company who, as part of my deal with D-Monic, had gotten their hands on the rights to my songs for the duration of the contract. I was warned I had no - 27 - right to publish my own songs on the platform. Even though the rights reverted back to me after three years and I once again retained full ownership to the songs,I felt it prudent to re-record the album and re-register the songs, so I would keep the author- and publishing rights, so things like that would never happen to me again. 2020: You announce the‘Heaven No. 7’-E.P. as an inbetween release tomake up for the longwait for the next album. I do like it, andwas especiallyimpressed bythe profound lyrics.Can you tell me howyou handlewriting lyrics forAhráyeph? Ooff, that’s a question that often gets asked, just like ‘how do you write your songs?’, and for which there is no simple answer, really. As I’ve alreadymentioned,my lyrics deal with my own experiences and observations. I would,however, like to write something from a different perspective down the line,even something fictional and I alreadyhave come upwith a fewideas,whichmayeven be used for TransWorld Tribe,but inAhráyeph,I mainly am addressing my own life and emotions, not least because, as I mentioned before, Ahráyeph is my outlet and therapy. 2021: The ‘XXV’-E.P. is supposed to celebrate 25 years of Ahráyeph. It contains three songs, a DepecheMode cover among them.Howimportantwas it foryou to celebrate this symbolicanniversary? Alittle,haha.Twenty-five years is amilestone,and it doesn’t suck to emphasise that,does it? It doesn’t really feel like twenty-five years to me and to be honest,it’s not as if I’ve had it on mymind for this entire year.It’s just that by the end of last Summer,I looked back on my career and realised it’s been twenty-five years since Jo, Peter, David, Raf, Geert and I got together in that rehearsal shack to become a band and work on songs together.That made it easy for me to couple the release of the ‘XXV’E.P.with it.Also gave me an easy title,haha. (Read more on wwww.peek-a-boo-magazine.be) Xavier KRUTH bandcamp: ahrayeph.be/music / facebook.com/ahrayephofficial www.peek-a-boo-magazine.be

DIRK DA DAVO -The Unreal (Single Digital) (Dancedelic D) A black void after the termination of The Neon Judgment? Forget it! Resting on his laurels under a Spanish sun is just a little pastime for Dirk Da Davo who remains pretty active under his solo name and produces some nice tracks at the appropriate times. Only recently there was the single ‘King Of Fools’, which now has been overtaken by ‘The Unreal’. Those who have paid close attention and who follow Da Davo's YouTube TV channel know that his release is not exactly brand new as such. After all, it was already unleashed on to the world last year,but received a significant update in which some percussion was added. The great looking artwork by Jörge Schanze that might remind us to a Joker is more of a coincidence.Or not … false and fake can have many forms. [DQ] HYDROM LINE - Hydrom Line Edition 2021 (CD) (Wool-E Discs) Hydrom Line was a short-term side project of Liquid G.'s Peter Van Bogaert (synths,vocals) with the help of Kandinsky (Bart Verlent, on guitar) and Sandra B. (Sandra Boschmans, vocals on ‘Reflections’ and ‘Realities’). Only two Hydrom Line tapes were released at the time: ‘Hydrom Line’ in 1991 and “Lost Experiments Of Satan's Pretty Place”, a split of Hydrom Line with Liquid G. from 1992. Now 30 years later, the best material from those two tapes has been re-recorded for “Hydrom Line Edition 2021” (10 tracks, 41 minutes playing time).And one new track was also recorded, the tenth and final track "On Dope". If Liquid G. stands for powerful, tight and in one way or another typically Belgian sounding EBMand electro,this is also the case for this HydromLine.HydromLine reminds one of old Klinik or even more of very old Suicide Commando… [HV] HOCICO - HyperViolent (CD/Digital/Vinyl) (Out Of Line) “Intro” is a quiet, smokey interlude setting the stage for the eerie sounds to come. “The Garden” comes in with a simple, one-two, one-two, one-two, plodding beat, like a Raven “tap tap tapping at mybedroomdoor.”Each drop,however,sustains the reverb and it bleeds into the next, leaving no aural spaces open. The near ethereal vocals are reminiscent of Switchblade Symphony and there’s an aching, pleading, but almost sarcastic tone. It’s as if she knows that you know the game.But she also knows that you can’t resist her entreaties to“come intomy garden.”You both know it’ll be wrong.But you’re going to go through with it anyway. If there is a dance track on the album, it would be “Nightmares.”No heavy EBM stomping, but it pulsates and throbs into a dream state, perfect for spinning and gesticulating, physically expressing the pains of a nightmarish existence. The riffs burn with angst as the synths flitter chromatically above the melody. [CM] www.peek-a-boo-magazine.be DEAD MAN’S HILL - Inner Journeys … (CD) Backfire sets things of with a blast as the opener. Great to hear how subtle every sound, sample and noise finds its place in this slightly slower opener. The typical atmosphere of earlier work is very recognisable.If you like dark,lingering electrowith a touch of industrial, then Reinvention Of Pain is right up your street.With Echoes, DIVE comes to the rescue.A lingering song in which the characteristic voice of Dirk Ivens brings some noisy accents. Halfway through the album, the sound ebbs away to almost nothing, only to rise again in its grandeur.Another of Jan's heroes,Cyan (The Eternal Afflict) joins the fray on Blame It On The Moon. The song has more future-pop allure and is wonderfully danceable. Musically, the whole thing hovers between the rough and gothic impact it once started with and more contemporary electro. Where it has always been Jan's goal with Mildreda to make atmospheric music with a dark edge,he has succeeded perfectly with this album. - 28 - (Noctivagant) [JB] Read full reviews on http://www.peek-a-boo-magazine.be/en/reviews/

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IRDORATH for several years: Vladimir on bagpipes, and Nadezhda on davul.They played at medieval festivals, street fairs, holidays - it was a good experience. But it was time to move on, there was an understanding that they were ready for more. The first to join the duo was Anton Shnip, a talentedmusician and sound producer, and it was these three people who created theproject and set its direction in music. In 2012 Irdorath presented the debut album ‘Ad Astra’ and then the line-up of musicians became wider and changed periodically. Concert activity in Europe began. With the current war raging in Ukraine,we could almost forget what is happening in Belarus, the northern neighbour of Ukraine. Five musicians connected to the Belarussian fantasy folk band Irdorath are currently in jail. Their crime? They protested peacefully against the election results of August 2020, which were broadly claimed to be rigged. The protests were answered by the regime of autocrat Alexandr Lukashenko – who is in power since 1994 – with merciless repression. We had the chance to talk to Aliaksei Palauchenia, the drummer of Irdorath who also spent 15 days in jail after the violent arrest of the band members and their supporters at the birthday party of singer Nadezjda Kalach. Aliaksei Palauchenia: In connection with the events in Ukraine, I am obliged to say on my own behalf and on behalf of Irdorath that right now there is a monstrous war going on in the countrywhere our friends and relatives live. We beg to stop this crime against the people of Ukraine! Thank you Aliaksei. Let’s focus on what’s happening in Belarus. Howwas Irdorath formed and how did you join the band? Thank you for your interest in Belarus and Irdorath. Irdorath was born in 2011, when Vladimir and Nadezhda Kalach –the foundingmembers of Irdorath –moved from Grodno to Minsk,where there were more opportunities to implement the project and find musicians for cooperation.Until that time, they had been playing together www.peek-a-boo-magazine.be I had heard about Irdorath many times, but I did not see them at concerts until 2018. In December 2018 we participated together in the Christmas festival in Minsk. I came with my band Osimira and sawhow they performed. It was a well-staged costume show with an explosive program! It was immediately obvious that Irdorath had a lot of experience on the European scene.Later I sawan ad on social media that they were looking for a drummer from Minsk. I live in another city 200 km away but still decided to come to the casting. Not everything worked out right away but in January 2019 I started coming everyweek for rehearsals,and after a few months we played a big concert together in Munich! During that year we travelled to many countries for concerts. Irdorath describes itself as a fantasy-folk band. The songs are often based on traditional folk themes but the songs also tackle fantasy themes and serious societal criticism. Can you tell us more about the subjects of Irdorath’s music? The image of the musical heroes of Irdorath, as it were, take us back to fairy tales and legends.We use the images of mystical creatures to describe different human qualities, not from the side of magic, but more often from the side of real emotions and feelings, from joy and admiration to hatred and deceit. Everything you hear in music is a reflection of the modern world and what is happening in it. Some of the material we have is from Western European folklore but most songs are Belarusian and author's songs. Irdorath has songs in different - 30 -

languages and everyone will find something of their own. And, of course, there is enough instrumental music. During the mass protests against the election results of August 2020 and the police repression that followed, musicians of Irdorath decided to participate and play music during themarches.Whydid theydecided to do so? Good question.At that time, it was not a question for us. It seems to me that just everyone who felt that it was time for a change came out.There were so many people and it was natural. These were emphatically peaceful processions. I think you have seen these shots - they can be easily found on the internet. The musicians went out and did what they do best - play for people, cheer them up. For me, they are not guilty, neither are the several thousand people who are now deprived of their liberty. Were they aware that participating in the protests was dangerous? Did they know that they faced the danger of long prison sentences? I still don’t understand and the whole world with us doesn’t understand how participation in peaceful rallies could be dangerous. No one thought about prison terms. This could not be in the rule of law. Unfortunately, we still see new details of detentions and arrests in the news every day. We are waiting for the release of our friends and colleagues. At the end of 2020, several members of Irdorath lost their jobs at the Viktoryia Children and Youth Centre due to participating in yard concerts in Minsk. Can you tell us more about this? I can't answer you. But I really hope that people keep a record of all employees dismissed for conscience reasons since that moment. It's thousands and thousands of people.These layoffs are ongoing. You were present during that fateful night of 2 August 2021 when several members of Irdorath were arrested. Can you tell us what happened? It is very strange to detain musicians representing Belarus in Europe like this. I will refrain from commenting. I can only say that we planned to celebrate Nadia's birthday and half of the guests met there for the first time. Draw your own conclusions. As a result, you and others were convicted to 15 days in prison for disobeying the special forces that made - 31 - the arrests. Meanwhile, 5 people received long prison sentences: 2 years in custody for singers Vladimir and Nadezjda Kalach, and 1 year and 6 months for their fellow musicians Piatro Marchanka, Yuliya Marchanka and Anton Shnip. Do we have any news of how they experience the prison? I can't speak for the guys, but from my experience I can say that the first thing is shock. Shock is everything. Emotional breakdown and depression. Imagine that they were imprisoned without a court verdict for four months. Four months of waiting... and what is it like for Vladimir and Peter to know that their wives Nadezhda and Yulia were in the same building and there was no opportunity to see each other.And how does Anton feel? His bride is waiting for him. There was hope for a different outcome but this did not happen. Recently, Nadezhda and Yulia were transferred to a colony in Gomel. Where do you live right now? Can you still walk freely in Belarus or is it dangerous for you too? I left Belarus with one suitcase of things. Now I am starting my life from scratch in another country. All over again. It's not easy but it's quite possible. I believe that we will definitely get together again and play at the best festivals in the world! I thank you for the interview. Now and during the entire period in prison, my guys and their families really need support and help. You can write a letter without a political context or transfer money. All information can be found by hashtag #freeirdorath The five members of Irdorath are recognized as political prisoners.You can write the at the following addresses: Vladimir Kalach, Piatro Marchanka and Anton Shnip SIZO-2, Gagarina st. 2,Vitsebsk, 210026, BELARUS Nadezjda Kalach and Yuliya Marchanka SIZO-3, Knizhnaya st. 1A, Gomel, 246003, BELARUS You can donate for the prisoners of Irdorath through the Belarussian Council for Culture. You can find all the information on Irdorath and the actions of solidarity with the prisoners under hashtag #freeirdorath. There is also a facebook group where all the information is shared Xavier Kruth www.peek-a-boo-magazine.be

PANIC LIFT Industrial band PANIC LIFT has become a staple in the scene now with eleven singles, EPs and LPs under their belt. Their latest release is an EP titled, Pieces. It's the second part in a five-part EP series which includes a different physical product James Francis is the main guy behind the project.We'd like to thank him for his time in this interview. Hello, can you give the readers a short background on Panic Lift in case theymight not alreadybe familiar? Hi! and thankyou!We are an industrial band fromNewJersey.We got our start around 2006 signing with Noitekk Records in Europe,and laterMetropolis Records in the United States.We’ve released 4 full length albums, toured nationally several times,and have been luckyenough to play a fewlegendary festivals including Wave Gotik Treffen, Kinetik Festival, Terminus Festival and others. I write and record all the music for Panic Lift myself, but when I play live, I bring along Dan Platt on keyboards, Ben Tourkantonis and Cristian Carver rotating on drums, and Aedra Burke (from FIRES) occasionally playing bass. Your latest release is a cassette called, Split.This is a part of a themed series.Why the decision to do that? Are the next editions different formats? Writing full length albums has always been tough forme.Alot of times, I tend to go off on tangents on certain songs and the styles of each song can be opposites at times. I’ve always found myself having to adjust songs or add things into songs to make them all fit together as a whole. I decided that if I didn’t release albums, I could just write whatever I wanted, I could experiment more,and I didn’t have to worry about changing or adding parts just to create a cohesive 40 minute listening experience. Beyond that, I also took into account the overall market right now. I noticed over the last decade when seeing my royalty states that I sold less and less CDs every time I put out a full length, but at the same time my streaming revenue began to skyrocket. I just don’t feel like the average listener consumes albums like we all used to. Lastly, I also looked at my engagement. I noticed a window of about 2 months where traffic would increase to my social media when I released something new. People wanted to hear what I had to say about it, they were checking if I was touring, watching videos.. then after that time, It would drop off almost completely.I couldn’t imagine putting out 10 songs just for the attention span of the listener to be that short.At the end of the day, I am an artist, but I also have to promote myself and as a business it didn’t seem wise to dump out all of my music at once,just to end up having to beg for people’s attention after 2 months. I decided on the EP structure because I knew I didn’t want to just release singles. I also knew I wanted to include remixes. I thought, why not do something thematically connected so I’m able to experiment sonicallyall I want,but there is still this umbrella over the whole project that will connect it at the end. Yes the physical “component” will change with every release. However, the fun part is, it doesn’t necessarilymean it will be a media format like a cassette or compact disc. It may be something completely different,but it will be ultra-limited,and specific to the EP that goes along with it. Could be a t-shirt, shot glass,whatever fun thing I can think up. Do your individual releases revolve around certain themes? Yes, the theme for “Split”was around the song “Tribute”which I took literally. I felt both “Tribute” and “Nowhere Fast’ leaned heavy on my musical influences specifically bands like Nine Inch Nails, or X Marks The Pedwalk. So these songs were tributes to those bands in a way. The next EP that’s coming out in the fall is titled “Fragments” and what connects those next 2 songs will the lyrical content.I found that both these songs revolve around a difficult period in my life last year when I was incredibly stressed, and I felt like everything was falling apart around me. Howhas your studio and production evolved over the years? I found over the years that for me, less is more. I begun Panic Lift using a ton of different software synths, hardware synths, and about was very much about amassing lots of gear. I think over the past decade I’ve gotten rid of a lot of stuff, and really just focused on learning the few things I have inside and out. This approach has really helped me learn how to create the sounds I want, instead of spending all day looking for a sound. I also found that instead of focusing on buying expensive mi

crophones, it really just focusses on warming up my voice and learning better control. I think all the gear in the world is not a replacement for having discipline with your craft. Have your influences, both musical and not musical changed much since the start of Panic Lift? We noticed that two of the tracks on“Split”are said to be homages to the legends that inspired you. I try to always keep my ears to the ground and see what’s currently popular.But I don’t think I listen to many newbands.I certainly appreciate a good production,or a great voice but I think I more or less stick to the same bands that influencedme starting out.In that sense,I always want to seewhat tricks newbands are using and incorporate that into what I do, but as far as being a fan - I think I understand now why my parents listened only to music from there generation. I find myself gravitating towards records that were put out in the 90s or the 2000s. I don’t think any new music is better or worse, but there is a comfort in the music I grewup listening to that I prefer. What makes a good remix? Who do you think are the most skilled remixers today? Maybe I ambiased,but I have been blessed with bands and producers giving me absolutely fabulous remixes. I wish I knew more producers outside of my colleagues but I’ve been so focused on these EPsI haven’t listened to much else. I will say, for the next EP there will be remixes from Assemblage 23, and Kalcyfr.Obviously,Tom needs no introduction, he’s a legend and his remixes are always amazing.I was introduced to Kalcyfr from mybuddiesMechanicalVein andMoris Blak.It’s a great industrial bass project and his production is some of the best newmaterial I’ve heard. I’m happy to showcase him a bit on this release. What’s the strangest or funniest accident that’s every happened to you during a live show? Too many to count. I don’t think a lot of my shows ever go smoothly. I think the biggest mistake that ever happened during a show,luckily no one ever noticed.We played a set at Aftermath Festival in Toronto.At this point,we were on tour with Aesthetic Perfection and Surgyn and we rolled into the festival for one night to do our sets.For this tour,we had a dedicated sound engineer so we left our backing tracks up at the board and he would start them every night. Somehow, instead of queuing up the set in playlist order, I must have handed him the computer with files just playing in file alphabetical order from the hard drive,which means on stage we had no idea what song we’d be playing next. Luckily, I knew the songs wouldn’t repeat which would have been completely embarrassing but we got through the whole 40 minute set on our toes! The best part is that complete show is on youtube! If you look closely you can see us look at each other laughing in between songs. Has the pandemic influenced your music and lyrics, maybe mental health? What’s some good that’s come out of it for you? It’s been rough.I had actuallynot planned on releasing anynew Panic Lift for a very long time before that Pandemic started. However, when we first had that ‘lockdown’ it really started to affect my mental health in a bad way. I used to work on these songs as an outlet to keepme occupied.In a way,the pandemic is what forcedme to focus on Panic Lift again,I guess that’s the strange messed up consolation prize in all this. Do you think there is much need for bandmanagement or labels these days or does it just depend on the needs of the artist and the market? This is a long and complex issue. But I feel,Yes.There is absolutely a need for labels.I could not have gotten the eyes on me that I have without being associated with a label. Signing to a label,especiallyone that is credible in the scene gives a validity to what you are doing. Many labels also have audiences that are“built in”in a way,so people will buy your product since it is associated with a label. That is different than the actual physical mechanics of releasing music.You can absolutely do that without a label.But then you are just putting it out,and no one knows its there. I’mblessed because I spent a decade ofmy career on verywellregarded labels,andmy fanbase followedme to be an independent artist.I don’t think I would have the following I dowithout first having been associated with a label. Other than the themed series,what doyou hope for Panic Lift in the comingmonths? We have 2 shows planned. Once in Salem MA, for the Darq events on October 9th. I’ve been wanting to play Salem during Halloween month for a very long time so it’s a show I couldn’t sayno to.Next springwe return toDarkSideOfCon,to play that festival.We’ve done it 3 times now and have a good relationshipwith that crew.It’s always a lovelyexperience and I’mlooking forward to see allmy friends after this long shut down.After I’m done releasing this music, which in total will be 10 songs and 10 remixes. I will probably take another break. It’s nice not having anything planned, it makes it all the more exciting when I get inspired to come back to it. (Read more on wwww.peek-a-boo-magazine.be) For more information: facebook.com/paniclift / paniclift.bandcamp.com/ WilliamZIMMERMAN -a-boo-magazine.be

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calendar 02.04 PORTA NIGRA 10 YEARS CELEBRATION @ Stadsfeestzaal, Aarschot [BE] Blutengel, Covenant, Hocico, Suicide Commando, Rotersand, Sitd, Pink Turns Blue, The Arch, The Invincible Spirit, The Juggernauts 03.04 PORTA NIGRA 10 YEARS CELEBRATION @ Stadsfeestzaal, Aarschot [BE] 15.04 MUTANT TRANSMISIONS FESTIVAL III @ Villa Bota, Brugge [BE] Froe Char (be/fr), Accident Sentimental (fr), 16.04 EBM UNITED STOCKHOLM@ Slaktkyrkan, Stockholm [SE] A Split-second (be) Dive (be) Spetsnaz Cryo Lucifer's Aid Hus 7 Acts: Alvar Severe Illusion Kinder Aus Asbest Nuclear Sludge 16.04 RAWöNES + BONESHAKER @ Barock, Brugge Sint Michiels [BE] 2 Top Cover Bands: Ramones + Mötorhead mo 16.04 LEBANON HANOVER + ENZO KREFT @ De Casino, Sint Niklaas [BE] 16.04 MUTANT TRANSMISIONS FESTIVAL III @ Villa Bota, Brugge [BE] Brigitte Handley (australia/de), Zug Zona Utopica Garantita, The Ultimate Dreamers (be) Djs: Unternull Team (de) 17.04 PSYCHE (CAN) + FORETASTE (F) @ Rock'n'eat, Lyons [FR] 17.04 MUTANT TRANSMISIONS FESTIVAL III @ Villa Bota, Brugge [BE] Nova Guardia (ukr), Grgr (de) Maria Kleopatra 23.04 DARK MALTA FESTIVAL @Montekristo Estate Malta, [MT] International Gothic/metal/industrial Bands Over 3 Days 24.04 DARK MALTA FESTIVAL @Montekristo Estate Malta, [MT] 30.04 FOR THE LOVE OF NEWWAVE @ Forty Five, Hasselt [BE] Dj's Gert Corvers, Radical G, Stefan Wuyts 30.04 SUCH BEAUTIFUL FLOWERS @ Bar Bakeliet, Borgerhout [BE] 07.05 MIXED VISIONS 18TH ELECTRO INDUSTRIAL TOP 100 @Aalmoezenier, Antwerpen [BE] Dj's Philter + Gdw 07.05 DEPECHE MORE - THE MISTRESS OF JERSEY - ECHO CITY WAVES @ Posthalt, Zutendaal [BE] Tribute Night 07.05 PRAIMFAYA FEST #1 (OPENING EDITION) @ Sojo, Kessel-lo, Belgium, Kessel-lo [BE] Mother (blackgaze Post Metal, Be) Turpentine Valley (post Rock/post Metal, Be) Aufhebung (doom Post Metal, Be) 10.05 ZANIAS (LIVE) + DJ BORG @ BODIES & BEATS III @ Fetish Café, 2000 Antwerp [BE] Tickets VERY limited! 13.05 SELOFAN - THE ARCH - ENZO KREFT @ Jagersborg, Maasmechelen [BE] 14.05 THIS IS NOT A DARK FEST @ Salle Saint Roch, Lessines [BE] Red Zebra, The Ultimate Dreamers, Ultra Sunn, Partikul Dj Sets & Afterparty With Dj Chacha (club New Wave) & Dj Gore (pilgrimage) 14.05 CONTRAST PARTY @ Bastion V, Dendermonde [BE] Dark Underground Night With Lots Of Ebm-darkwave & electro - Dj Line-up: Dj Alaintje Vs Moodsetter Dj The Master Dj Filip Delie Dj Borg Dj Peter Melis Dj Boo-lee 14.05 BUNKERLEUTE - DARK UNDERGROUND PARTY @Musicafé, Leuven [BE] Dj The Darker Angel - Catacombkitten 20.05 BREAKING BARRIERS PRESENTS: PUSSY RIOT + HETZE & HäGAR THE WOMB @ Het Depot, Leuven [BE] 21.05 PORTA NIGRA, ANOTHER BODYMOVING PASSAGE @ De Klinker, Aarschot, Aarschot [BE] Der Prager Handgriff, Fïx8:sëd8, Accessory, V2a, Mildreda, Stin Scatzor 21.05 TRIBUTE NIGHT @ De Stegel, Kinrooi [BE] The Obscure, Nick Cave Tribute Band Joy De Vivre + New Wave party 25.05 BODIES & BEATS IV with TRUE ZEBRA & PORNO KARAOKE @ Fetish Café, Antwerp [BE] 28.05 PORTA NIGRAWITH ORDO ROSARIUS EQUILIBRIO, THIS MORN' OMINA, SPIRAL OF SILENCE, EMPUSEA & MORE... @ De Klinker, Aarschot [BE] 29.05 LAMUERTE + Motor!k, Heathen Apostles, Needle & The Pain Reaction @ De Klinker, Aarschot, Aarschot [BE] 03.06 - 06.06 WAVE GOTIK TREFFEN @ Various, Leipzig [DE] 04.06 SHE PAST AWAY + TWIN TRIBES @ De Dreef, 2290 Vorselaar [BE] 04.06 MOVE YOUR SKELETON (SPRING EDITION) @ Innocent, Hengelo [NL] Coltaine(d); egeria; prickrott; & more 11.06 PESCH @ Bom Brewery, Roeselare [BE] 11.06 THE JUGGERNAUTS + WULF7 @ Barock, Brugge [BE] Ebm Night In Bruges, With The Juggernauts And WÜlf7 24.06 SINNER'S DAY SUMMER @Maria-hendrikapark, Oostende [BE] The Mission, Vnv Nation, Pil, Nitzer Ebb, Merciful Nuns, Aesthetic Perfection, The Stranglers And Many More! 23.07 + 24.07 AMPHI FESTIVAL XVI @Amphi Eventpark / Tanzbrunnen, Köln [DE] Vnv Nation + Eisbrecher + Mono Inc. + The Birthday Massacre + Diary Of Dreams + Suicide Commando + London After Midnight + Solar Fake + Mesh + Aesthetic Perfection + Zeromancer + She Past Away + Letzte Instanz + [:sitd:] + In Strict Confidence + Stahlmann + Nachtblut + Frozen Plasma + Rome + Heldmaschine + Empathy Test + Sono + Minuit Machine + Cat Rapes Dog + Rroyce + Dupont + ... 19.08 THE MACHINISTS RE:UNITED 2022 - FRONT LINE ASSEMBLY + DIE KRUPPS! @ De Casino, St-niklaas [BE] 26.08 PROJECT PITCHFORK @ De Casino, St-niklaas [BE] 27.08 MOVE YOUR SKELETON (SUPER SUMMER SPECIAL) @ De Onderbroek, Nijmegen [NL] Bands: Anarchos; larva (e);necrotesque;vonmollestein;designerviolence;redvelvetdeception 03.09 FRONT 242 - SUICIDE COMMANDO @ Gc Den Dries, Retie [BE] 24.09 E-TROPOLIS FESTIVAL @ Turbinenhalle, Oberhausen [DE] Project Pitchfork + Solar Fake + Faderhead + Grendel + LeÆther Strip + The Joke Jay + WinterkÄlte + Rroyce + Mildreda + More …. 15.10 BELGIAN ELECTROWAVE IS NOT DEAD! @Wommel, Wommelgem [BE] Line-up - Tba 26.10 BODIES & BEATS V with Xeno & Oaklander + DJ BORG @ Fetish Café, Antwerp [BE] 29.10 SINNER’S DAY WINTER @ Tba, Diest [BE] Ministry, Dead Kennedys, Peter Hook, The Jesus And Mary Chain, … 02.12 + 03.12 BIMFEST XX - 20th edition!!! @ De Casino, St-Niklaas [BE] Line-up - Tba YOUR EVENT NOT LISTED HERE? THEN YOU FAILED TO ADD IT (FOR FREE) > WWW.PEEK-A-BOO-MAGAZINE.BE! www.peek-a-boo-magazine.be - 35 -

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