ENZOKREFT of the Kremlin’s war rhetoric. By stationing tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, Putin is now taking it a step further.The days of a new Cold War have arrived, and the atmosphere is becoming increasingly grim.So I felt the need towrite a song about it. I soon found inspiration in the eponymous American information film from the 1950s, in which children were taught – in a very absurd and hilarious way – by a certain Bert the turtle how to ‘protect’ themselves against an atomic bomb. When I started working on the album at the end of 2021, I already had a pretty good idea of where I wanted to go, but current events have certainly had an influence on the further course of the project. The song ‘Standing On The Soil Of Another’ immediately reminds me of the war in Ukraine, but actually also of the war in Iraq. Was that the intention? Do you, like me, see parallels between these two wars? Those parallels are certainly there! Just as Russia justifies its Enzo Kreft likes to keep a finger on the pulse of what's going on in society, and he's never shy about speaking his mind when he thinks something is unfair. On ‘Different World’ (2021), he sang about the corona pandemic and everything that resulted from it, ‘Control’ (2019) handled about the control that contemporary society can exert on the individual, and on 'Wasteland' (2017), environmental issues were discussed extensively. With his new album ‘Shelter’, the minimal veteran–active since 1983! –made war the subject of his music. Not as a result of the war in Ukraine, as you might think, although a good deal of the actuality has once again made it onto the record. Enzo Kreft provides text and explanation for his new edition. Hallo Enzo. I'm so happy to hear your new record, and love it again. I know you always have a concept behind your records. Tell me, what is the main theme this time? You might think that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was the starting point for ‘Shelter’, but actually I was already toying with the idea of making an album about the theme of war at the end of 2021, and the title was already set. When I heard your first single‘DuckAnd Cover’, I thought you were going to make a record about the nuclear threat, but the main theme turns out to be war. Did the theme of the record evolve as you worked on it, or did you have a clear idea of the outcome you were aiming for from the start? I made ‘Duck and Cover’ last year,when Putin and his cronies started threatening with their nuclear arsenal. That nuclear threat,meanwhile, seems to be becoming a permanent part www.peek-a-boo-magazine.be - 28 - ‘special military operation’on the basis of lies,the US did this in Iraq: that country allegedly had weapons of mass destruction and was said to have had connections with Al Qaeda,which has never been proven.The US invasion of Iraq has mobilized masses of refugees and killed hundreds of thousands. Just like now in Ukraine, the infrastructure in Iraq was razed to the ground. Chemical weapons were used, prisoners were brutally tortured. The country was left torn apart and terrorist organizations such as ISIS sprang up on the ruins. Like Russia now, the US should have been held accountable for the war crimes committed. The fact that Bush and co.got awaywith this unpunished,was a precedent for other dictators and autocratic leaders to commit illegal deeds, also for Putin in Ukraine. In ‘There Is No Tomorrow’ you sing about the indifference of the people towards the threat ofwar. Do you think there is a risk of the war in Ukraine turning into a nuclear war? And what do you think we can do about the apathy of the masses? ‘There Is No Tomorrow’ is a dark, apocalyptic track that invites you to dance while you still can, just before the complete destruction. In that sense, it is comparable to what Prince sang about in ‘1999’. The underlying question in this protest song is: are we on the verge of nuclear armageddon? I think we should not underestimate Putin when he threatens to use tactical nuclear weapons. Perhaps he will conduct a nuclear test somewhere first, and if this does not change the attitude of the international community in his view, I see him capable of deploying a nuclear bomb in Ukraine. You can imagine the escalation that could result from that.It is therefore up to current and future generations to show political courage and to protest worldwide.We must
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