YOUR LIFEONHOLD After 2021, you seem to have put more work into your electro project Mildreda, with which you released ‘I Was Never Really There’ in 2021, and ‘Blue-Devilled’ in 2023. Are you satisfied with how these records were received? Yes, I’m genuinely happy with how things are going. Mildreda is doing really well. The label deal with Dependent really got things moving –and it’s still going strong.We get to play abroad quite often, and each time we manage to win over new souls.We’re putting in a lot of effort to keep evolving and growing with Mildreda.At the moment,we’re working on a new album. You have always been very active. I remember that in the 90s, in addition to your own work with Mildreda, you even had your own label on which you released numerous bands. Can you tell us a bit more about what you did with this at the time? Although Side-Line once called us the most interesting tape label of the moment back in the ’90s, it was mostly just fumbling around. I used to photocopy the covers at a copy shop and then cut and fold them at home. It was pure DIY.With Cyberflesh Productions, we did release a few compilations where we dared to color outside the lines a bit. But I wouldn’t go as far as calling any of it legendary. In hindsight, it probably all seems more charming and adventurous than it really was. When I reread an older interview, I read that in 2009 you performed in De Klinke, the garden house of Geert ‘Chesko’ Vandekerkhof of Der Klinke, who actually lives around the corner from you. That evening Dirk Ivens –known fromThe Klinik, Dive and Absolute Body Control – was also present as DJ. The performance was the impetus to restart your old project Mildreda. Are these the kind of nights that change your life? Although Mildreda had always lingered in the back of my mind, I’d never seriously considered reviving it – until that one evening. That night, we played the old material using my trusty Yamaha PSR 2700, just like back in 1996. And to my surprise, not only did the audience enjoy it –I did too.That’s when things started rolling. Shortly after, we played a real show in Bruges, invited by The Batcave, which was organizing a lot of cool gigs in the city back in the 90s and was celebrating some kind of anniversary. Then Bernt from The Black Cave reached out to book a show as well, and that’s when I truly started working on what would eventually become ‘Coward Philosophy’. www.peek-a-boo-magazine.be - 10 - I actually ask that question because you still seem to regularly collaborate with Der Klinke, the main project of Chesko. Tell me what that collaboration consists of? Chesko occasionally comes knocking to have some tracks mixed, and I often end up doing a bit of extra production and programming as well. It’s a collaboration that grew organically. We’re neighbors and good friends, after all. Even more impressive is that you wrote the music for the Dive album ‘Where Do We Go From Here?’ from 2020. Dive is a real legend, so I suspect Dirk Ivens must have been really impressed by your work to approach you for this. How did that collaboration go? The collaboration and friendship with Dirk Ivens is something that has grown over the years. Our paths first crossed in the mid90s when he included Mildreda on his ‘Even Dogs in the Wild’ compilation, which gave a platform to emerging Belgian bands. We kept bumping into each other, and when I asked him in 2007 to do vocals on Diskonnekted’s ‘Frozen’, it quickly led to a full ‘Dive vs. Diskonnekted’ EP. After that, the desire to do more together never really went away. So about a decade later, it started with just one demo – then another – and before we knew it, it had turned into a full-fledged album. Things just click in the studio. We understand each other quickly, and with Dirk’s lyrics and vocals, everything tends to fall into place almost instantly. With the last question I also want to look to the future. It has been a while since you released new workwith Your Life On Hold, but in a chat you did hint that you were working on new songs. How is that going? Are you working on a new record? Will you also play new songs on the Dark Entries Night? I’m indeed working on a new record, though at this point it’s still just rough sketches. Sound-wise, the new album will lean more towards a stripped-down setup— think drum machine-driven gothic rock. I want to create something tight and melodic. And once again, I’ve got plenty of demons to exorcise! (laughs) Xavier KRUTH www.yourlifeonhold.com www.facebook.com/yourlifeonhold https://yourlifeonhold.bandcamp.com
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