CHOKECHAIN people don’t do enough. Compared to punk, the modern dark music scene is incredibly narcissistic and egotistical and it is very depressing. Meeting Spike sort of restored my faith in the scene and I love both of them dearly. As for their music, I really find the way that they use tension and anxiety in their music interesting because it is in a different way than I use both of those things. Their music is more dynamic than mine and they know how to use restraint in their compositions very well, which makes everything feel sort of unnerving. Your first single Chain Tactics, has a very classic EBM sound. What kind of gear do you use? Do you want a retro analogue sound for your music? My first record is definitely my most stripped down, for sure. The style of that record is something I’ve always been working to refine. The minimal style of that record is kind of the basis for all of my other stuff. For gear I currently use an MPC Live, Elektron Digitone, Waldorf Blofeld, Behringer MS-1, Behringer Neutron, Behringer Pro-1, Roland D-110, Korg Volca FM and various synth plugins. Yes, I suppose I want to keep a retro sound, everything in my songs is run through a sampler before it gets recorded to give it added grittiness and bite. The artwork of your releases reminds me of early industrial stuff from the late seventies. Do you want the keep the DIYphilosophy that was inherent also to punk? Absolutely. A lot of aspects of my work are still DIY and being involved with DIY has taught me a lot about myself and about life, it’s made me who I am.There’s no way I could turn my back on it, some aspect of my work will always be DIY no matter what. Where do you find inspiration for your lyrics? Do you prefer to focus on more personal things or social problems? My inspiration comes from real life, which in many ways is objectively awful. I don’t pretend like it isn’t. I try to not hold back and be very blunt in my lyrics. I feel like people need to hear some of these things so they stop being fucking terrible to other people and themselves. The vast majority of the population of our planet are very unkind and uncaring, which causes most of the issues we face. My lyrics are often my emotional reactions to social problems. Different from punk in the way that a punk band might just write about the problems themselves more directly, I write about how those things make me feel personally. www.peek-a-boo-magazine.be - 6 - Does music work for you as a way of escaping from reality or diary problems? You talk a lot about anxiety, is music your way of escaping it? My music is not an escape from anything. I can’t escape my anxieties, it’s awful. My music at least gives me an outlet to talk about it, its pure catharsis. You said that you want to sound like a horror movie soundtrack, really scary. Do you think that you manage to do that with Invoking Shadows? Partially, yes. On that record, I was still sort of finding that sound, as with my previous records before that. How do you think your music has evolved in these years? When you hear the tracks in your compilation The EPs of CC, how do you see the evolution? My music has become less minimal and I’ve tried to incorporate more Electro-Industrial and Dark Electro influence. Over the years I’ve realised that instead of just a strict EBM project, it was my destiny to have a lot of 90s Dark Electro and Electro-Industrial sounding stuff as well. I feel like as the years have gone on I’ve gotten better at combining all three. You have also collaborated on a track with The Gothsicles, right? Yes! I did a track with Brian. If you know anything about The Gothsicles, you know it’s completely different from my own work, very light hearted and fun. Our vocal styles are sort of similar, so he thought I would make a great guest vocalist on a track. It was sort of out of my comfort zone to do something like what we did but I’m glad I did it. We are good friends and he is originally from Wisconsin, where I am based, so it felt like a good fit for a collaboration. We have performed it live only once but I’m sure that we will do it again. What can you advance us of your forthcoming album Mortality? It’s my best work by far, definitely the most intense stuff I’ve written. It’s what I always knew I would be able to write eventually. www.chokechainebm.com/ François Zappa © Published by the kind permission of El Garaje de Frank www.elgarajedefrank.es Read full interview on https://elgarajedefrank.es/en/interview-test-dept/
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