Featuring MB98 From Void Kampf | Interview by Ruud Dreessen aka ebm-industrial.nl 27 februari 2010 8:28
01- For the first question will be - Thanks Nico that you have found time to give answers to these questions,How are you doing?
MB98 : I'm fine thank you! Very busy at this time, we plan to give some gigs in May and our new album "Sévère Mais Juste" should be release in march 2010 by Sigsaly transmission Media.
02-Hello Nico what noise do you make in Void Kampf?
MB98 : We are doing Old School E.B.M with a slight techno flavour.
03-How's the start of 2010 been for you thus far?
MB98 : Cold and snow-covered :0)
04-do you know the netherland?
MB98 : No, I've been only one time in the netherland, in Amsterdam, it's was a romantic week end with my girlfriend: no drug, no bitch, but candlelights dinner and museums visits.
05-For a lot of people, this is probably going to be their first full introduction to Void Kampf so how about you tell us a little bit about how you guys know each other and how the band came together?
MB98 : Void kampf started as a solo project in 1999. The actual configuration exists since 2006. We are all friends and have the same tastes concerning music, we also share the same sense of humour therefore we don't have any conflict for the guiding line of Void Kampf.
06- Do you follow the electronic music EBM / Electro / Industrial / New wave, do you have any other favourite bands?
MB98 : I personally listen to different kind of music, not only the Electro/Dark scene. There are so many good bands, to name few in the "Dark scene" : Numb, FLA, Skinny Puppy, DAF, FRONT 242, Nitzer Ebb, Carbon 12, Gridlock, The Klinik…
07-How is your relationship with other electronic bands??
MB98 : Most of the bands I have excellent relationships with some bands because they are friends: Skoyz, Signal Aout 42, Buzz, Darkmen … for example.We know a lot of other bands but only by e-mails, or through concerts, EBM remains a small family anyway!
08- Can you give us a brief run-through of Void Kampf story so far?
MB98 : I started composing alone with a computer in 1999. After the first demo, some friends joined me, we bought some gears and made some concerts here and there, not far from our location (Lille, north of France). After a second demo, some people come and some people left the band, we started to make concerts in Belgium and in Germany.Now I have a little Home Studio at home and try to produce all my music by myself.
09- How did you start to make music and what is Gothic for you?
MB98 : I start to make music because I wanted to copy the legendary EBM Heroes like DAF or Nitzer EBB. I was thinking I will become a superstar and have all the girls and the drugs I wanted. 10 years after, I'm a father and have a regular job to earn a living in computering.
Gothic for me is teenagers dressed in black.
10-What did you guys do for a living before Void Kampf?
MB98 : Do you mean, What do I you do for living? I do not live from Void Kampf.I'm in computering and before Void kampf, I was a student.
11- When did you form Void Kampf? What inspired you to make music together?
MB98 : Void Kampf was created in 1999,. It was the urge to drink marvelous Belgium beers all together that motivated us, music is only a pretext, an alibi!
12- What are your top ten favorite EBM / Electro / Industrial / New wave Club Songs of all time? Who are you influenced by? What would you consider your favorite cd's?
MB98 :
TOP10 Club songs :
NUMB "Desire"
FLA "Millenium"
Ministry "Burning inside"
Nitzer Ebb "Murderous"
DAF "Verschwende deine jugend"
EMPIRON "Jesus Christ"
PRODIGY "Firestarter (Empirion mix)"
KMFDM "Juke Joint Jezebel"
AND ONE "Teufel Oder Engel"
JEAN YANNE "Homosexualis Discotecus"
Influences : Nitzer Ebb, DAF, Front 242, Orange Sector, Paranoid, Pouppee Fabrikk, Bionic and Jean Yanne
Favorite CD : "Blood Meridian" from NUMB
13- What are the future plans for Void Kampf?
MB98 : Some concerts during this year, I also work on a new album.
14- Do you have a record label? Are you a member of any music organizations?
MB98 : We are signed on Sigsaly Transmission Media.
15-What are you currently listening to on your MP3 player?
MB98 : At this time CAP and Jaeger 90.
16- By the way do you like my questions? tell me what you think about it! ;-)
MB98 : Good questions but you seem to have an insatiable curiosity.
17- What is the main idea, the message you want to leave to people who listens to you? What is your motto?
MB98 : No message in particular, have fun that's all
18- What's the name of your band? where did the name come from? or what's the story behind the band name?
MB98 : Void Kampf come from Voight-Kampff recognition test, it's a fictional tool originating in Philip K Dick's science fiction novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep.
19-If people don't know what you and your music are about, how would you describe Void Kampf?
MB98 : Brute, rough, energetic and without compromise.
20- first assault,suck my beat,,non stop sucking beats,severe mais juste where did the concept come from? and whats planned now that your album is finished? or anything else you're working on? Tell me why this title,first assault,suck my beat,,non stop sucking beats,severe mais juste Tell us a few words about the concept of this?
MB98 : "First Assault" because" it's sound good to my ears."Suck My Beat" is a play on words we like a lot and that only french speaking people are able to fully understand"Non Stop Sucking Beats" because it's a remix album of "Suck My Beat""Sévère Mais Juste" because it's a quote from a movie we are fans of ; "Deux heures moins le quart avant Jésus-Christ", the best movie, ever. You can translate it by "Severe but right" or for german speaking EBMers by "Streng aber gerecht" We plan to release a second album in 2011 or 2012 so I'm working on it.
21- Some quick fire questions: guitar or synthesizer?
MB98 : Synthesizer of course, guitar sucks in EBM especially when it's sampled.
22-band or solo
MB98 : Solo for composing, band for live action.
23-How is the current promotional tour going for supporting this album?
MB98 : Two dates in may, on in Paris on the 28th, the other one in Templeuve, Belgium on the 29th . We cannot talk about a promotional tour. We all have very busy lives, a promotional tour is quite impossible to plan for us.
24- What do you think of a modern Gothic and about EBM / Electro / Industrial / New wave scene?
MB98 : Nothing, I Have a three years old child so I listen to nursery rhymes exclusively.
25- What's your favourite track of yours?
MB98 : "VK Power", highly effective according to me
26-What and who gets you excited about music today?
MB98 : Nothing seems to be inventive to me since the 70's and 80's in the electronic scene. Things are recycled over and over. Even the comeback of EBM legends from the 80's doesn't excite me a lot..
27-Our usual question - what is music for you?
MB98 : Emotion or energy
28- What was your best live experience so far?
MB98 : Douai last year, we like playing at home in the North of France, it's like, having a party with friends.
29- Please list the name, age, school, and respective instrument of each band member
Mr Body 98 : Music, lyrics & vocals
Mr Body 2000 : Music, lyrics & vocals
Mr Body 2004 : Lyrics & vocals
EBMnator : Live drums and technical support
Der Gregolini : Technical support
30-What are your views on the current state of this EBM / Electro / Industrial / New wave scene in Frankrijk .in terms of creativity and audiences? And the scene in other countries?
MB98 : EBM is mainly concentrated in Germany and Sweden.According to me the only two French bands which have something to do with Old School EBM are Groupe T and Void Kampf.There is no audience in France for such a music. If you wanted it, you could put all the French EBM audience in a toilet, they would have enough space!
31- you have very nice numbers` tell me about lyrical compositions what you can tell about the done work? How does your music creation process work? How do you create a song?
MB98 : We write some texts on beer-bock, We record our voices screaming then I put an EBM loop and a beat behind, of course by following the philosophical inspiration of an amazing belgian beer.
32-What genre of music do you consider your work to be? Who are your major influences?
MB98 : A mix between EBM and TBM.Our major influences are EBM and Techno.
33-Since the music industry is more open now to purely electronic music has this made things easier for you?
MB98 : No, we are just lost among the billion other electronic bands you can found on MySpace.
34-So what are their main influences as a band at the moment?
MB98 : And One, if only my sound was like Steve Naghavi's one!
35-What is currently inspiring your material as an artist? tell me all about the EBM / Electro / Industrial / New wave scene of Frankrijk ?
MB98 : Cf question 30
36-Do you think that people from the music press didn't expect you to grow up musically?
MB98 : I don't know
37-what is the key to making music from Void Kampf and what inspires you to keep growing as a musician?
MB98 : It's a passion, I cannot explain that!
38-How do you see the future of download / Copyright in area of goth-EBM / Electro / Industrial / New wave music ? What are the best ways to develop it in your mind ?
MB98 : I just don't care. You can download our CD but you will miss a great sleeve design, believe me!
39-what was your childhood like?
Happiness, doting parents, I couldn't ask for more.
40-If there was one thing you want people to know about your band what would that be?
I want people to know we have no message to spread, Void Kampf is pure fun and energy.
41-Please let us know about your upcoming plans, some new releases you like to confirm here
Only our first release on Sigsaly this year.Perhaps some remixes for other bands, sampler s appearances, and a few live assaults.
42-It has been a pleasure to interview you on your musical activity,Well,any last words to your ebm-industrial fans?
Buy our CD, beers are more expansive than ever.
43-and what is next on Frankrijk agenda?
A concert in Paris in may the 28th at "The Klub" together with Vigilante.
44-How can fans-to-be gain access to your music? Do you have a website with sample songs or a demo CD?
45-How has your music evolved since you first began playing music together?
More professional but there remains a lot to do to reach that sound we want to do. I only continue because we are making headways. The day we begin to stagnate, we will stop. Making music is only interesting if you learn something for yourself.
46-How is the new line-up working out?
I make the music. Me and Mister Body 2004 write the lyrics and record the vocals.The others guys participate during the live shows
47-And, finally, what does the next twelve months hold for the band?
We will release our first official CD, so we hope to get some positive feedback about this in the next months because we work hard on this album.
48-Any last words?
I'm thirsty
49-Thank you for your time Nico. Good luck
Thank you man and don't forget to support your local EBM commando!!!
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