|
New InterviewIncludes the scoop on the new Bauhaus album! The following interview was conducted by Ignacio Reyo and appeared in the April edition of the Spanish music magazine, Popular 1. P: What is the process that leads to your expression in words? David J: The process is mysterious. Sometimes an idea can be sparked off by overhearing part of a conversation, a certain phrase that catches the ear which is really the mind. Sometimes it can come from a personal experience that strikes one as poetic. Compelling stories are all around us, glowing like fire flies, it’s the writer’s job to catch them and put them in a jar. P: You worked in the past with Hubert Selby Jr. How was the experience? D J: As part of Hal Willner’s tribute to Edgar Allan Poe at the Royce Hall in LA., Hubert Selby Jr. read ‘The Tell Tale Heart’ whilst Wayne Kramer played bowed electric guitar, Joyce Rooks carved away at the cello and I made sounds with various customized percussive instruments. We improvised the music during sound check, Selby said: ”That’s great, it sounds like music for cannibals!” P: What’s your favorite book by him? D J: I have only read ‘Last Exit To Brooklyn’. A great book. P: Do you like Requiem for a Dream, the film? D J: I loved that film. The last fifteen minutes are so visceral and intense. You come out of it feeling like you have gone through the emotional wringer. Great performance from Ellen Burstyn. P: Favorite books and why? D J: That is a very long list so let’s make it five off the top of my head. P: Do you like authors like Palahniuk or Dennis Cooper? D J: I read the screenplay of ‘Fight Club’, when it was suggested that Love & Rockets could do the soundtrack. I found it entertaining but a little ridiculous. Although, I think that they did a very good job with the movie in the end. The Dust Brother’s music worked very well I thought. I have only dipped into Dennis Cooper’s bloody oeuvre. I was staying at a friend’s place and he had a number of his books. It struck me as punk rock shock lit. Some ‘hard edged’ writers that I really like are Dennis Johnson, I found his ‘Already Dead’ riveting. I just finished Scott Wolven’s ‘Controlled Burn’, flinty, diamond hard prose, his economy is great, so honed and then there is Seth Morgan, ‘Homeboy’ is such a dark poetic tour de force. A blazing comet of a novel! That one really floored me. P: I’ve always thought that Peter Murphy resembles an actor in expressionist cinema, for example for a film of Murnau or Fritz Lang, what do you think? D J: I agree. When we started Bauhaus I was heavily into German expressionist cinema and painting. It was a natural thing to pick up on that style and adopt it to our own visual aesthetic. Everything, from how we dressed to on stage lighting, record sleeves and posters was influenced by that movement. P: How was your experience in The Hunger? D J: It was very interesting, watching the process of a film being made. We had one long day and night on the set. Of course, it was a thrill to spend some time with Mister Bowie. He was very friendly, I felt that he was relating to us as ‘the boys in the band’, a point of identification with where he had come from and separate from the ‘film people’. I spent some time talking with him outside his dressing room. There was a classic 50’s style jukebox and we were selecting discs. He was dancing to ‘Groovin’ With Mr. Bloe’ by Mr. Bloe and I called him on it, saying: ”You, know this reminds me of ‘A New Career In a new Town’ ( from ‘Low’) “ He put his finger to his lips and kept on dancing. P: What are your favorite films and why? D J: Another very long list! Here’s a selection. ‘Alphaville’; Jean-Luc Goddard’s enigmatic, atmospheric film noir of sorts. A dystopian vision of the near future, the denizens of which can only find possible salvation by embracing the outlawed tenets of poetry and surrealism. There are sporadic voice over readings of the poetry of Paul Eluard that counter the Big Brother robotized platitudes of Alpha 60 the dictatorial computer that runs this city of the damned. Stylistically it is a very modern film, all glass, metal and formica with the nocturnal scenes lit by sodium street lamps. ‘The Saddest Music In The World’; Director, Guy Maddin creates a magical surreal world. I love the quality of the light and the distressed look of the film. Isabella Rossellini is perfect as the glamourous legless baroness. ‘Blue Velvet’; Another unique world. A beautiful, scary place. Dennis Hopper as the evil Frank Booth is unforgettable. Like most of Lynch’s films it has it’s own dream logic. His use of metaphor is startling. Also . . . ‘Tarnation’, ‘Prick Up Your Ears’,‘IF’, Night Of The Hunter, A Clockwork Orange’, ‘Paris, Texas’, ‘Harold and Maud’, ‘Dr. Strangelove’, ‘The Innocents’, ‘Sexy Beast’, ‘Performance’, ‘Touch Of Evil’, ‘Elephant’, ‘The Elephant Man,‘Orphee’, ‘Sunset Boulevard’, ‘Begotten’, ‘Silence Of The Lambs’, ‘The Last Picture Show’, ‘Metropolis’, Kind Hearst & Coronets’, ‘2001 A Space Odyssey’,‘One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest’, ‘Dead Man’, ‘Santa Sangre’,‘City Of God’,‘Requiem For A Dream’, ‘Wings Of Desire’, ‘Network’, ‘Withnail And I’, ‘The Life Of Brian’, ‘The Preacher’, ‘Is There Sex In Heaven?’,‘Mysterious Skin’, ‘Repulsion’, ‘Rosemary’s Baby’, ‘The Lady From Shanghai’, ‘L.I.E’.,‘American Beauty’, ‘Casablanca’, ‘Breaking The Waves’, ‘Taxi Driver’, ‘Raging Bull’, ‘The Graduate’, ‘The Wizard Of Oz’, ‘All the President’s Man’, ‘Lost In Translation’, ‘The Third Man’, ‘The Tenant’, ‘F For Fake’, ‘Gumshoe’, ‘The Cabinet Of Doctor Caligari’, ‘Erazerhead’, ‘Peeping Tom’, ‘Alice’, ‘The Treasure Of The Sierra Madre’, ‘Lawrence Of Arabia’, ‘Apocalypse Now’, ‘The Man Who Fell To Earth’, ‘Midnight Cowboy’, ‘The Tin Drum’, ‘The Pawnbroker’, ‘The Conversation’, ‘Drugstore Cowboy’ ‘Papillon’, ‘Cool Hand Luke’, ‘Trainspotting’, ‘Dog Day Afternoon’, ‘Sea Of Love’, ‘Scent Of A Woman’, ‘The Entertainer’, ‘Blow-Up’, ‘Death In Venice’, ‘Buffalo 66’, American History X’, ‘Nosferatu’ ( original ), ‘Nosferatu ( The Vampyre ), ‘The King Of Comedy’, ‘Targets’, ‘The Seventh Seal’, ‘Broadway Danny Rose’, ‘Easy Rider’, ‘The Night Porter’, ‘Kiss Of The Spider Woman’, ‘’Repo Man’, ‘My Favourite Year’, ‘The Ice Storm’, ‘House Of Sand And Fog’, ‘Notes On A Scandal’, ‘Deliverance’, ‘Pulp Fiction’, ‘Thundercrack’ and the list could go on and on! P: In addition to music, an aspect of Bauhaus that I love is the visceral and elegant live performance. Bauhaus are performers. Peter Murphy is sublime and clearly has honed his craft”. These words are from Jarboe. What is your relationship with her? What´s your opinion about Swans and her solo albums? D J: “Visceral and elegant” could also be applied to Jarboe herself. I see her as a kind of high priestess of the avant-garde. Her work operates on a very powerful magical level. Swans were the real deal, totally uncompromising and devastatingly potent. Deep. I contributed a track to Jarboe’s ‘Men’ project and she has recently reciprocated by adding a spine tingling vocal to the debut recording by Vinsantos that I am producing. I feel privileged to know her. P: The beginning of Bauhaus, what was this experience like? Genesis P-Orridge said to me that he saw you playing when Bauhaus was Bauhaus 1919? What were these times like? D J: It was a very exciting time as we felt very much like outsiders going against the grain but inspired by bloody minded self belief. Gen invited us to play with Throbbing Gristle at the town hall in Northampton our home town. That was quite an event! Every black shelled insect hipster weirdo in town crawled out of the woodwork for that one! P: What are your thoughts on the beginning of Love and rockets and breaking up of Bauhaus? D J: Love and Rockets was a fresh start, a clean slate and inspiring because of that. That trio has a very different dynamic to the foursome. Bauhaus had to break up as the presence of Peter made the situation too volatile to function. P: What are the differences between your solo works and your work with Bauhaus and Love and Rockets? D J: When you work with a group, it is a coming together of diverse qualities. You are able to produce something that would be impossible on your own. Something that William Burroughs and Brion Gysin referred to as ‘the third mind’, whereby collaboration results in a kind of third party, an entity / mind that is the product of that interaction. I still work with other artists when I am producing ‘solo’ work and indeed, I relish the input of others. P: How was the experience of working with Alan Moore? D J: Alan is completely inspirational. He works very spontaneously, his mind is extraordinary. He is always seeing the big picture which is multi dimensional and loaded with subtext. His novel ‘Voice Of The Fire’ is an astonishing work. He is a guiding light. P: What kind of comics do you like? D J: When I was about twelve in the late 60’s, I was exposed to American underground comix. There was a stall on the market which took place in the town ( market ) square in Northampton every weekend. For a couple of years, I had been going there to buy regular American comics ( Spiderman, The Hulk, Batman etc., also MAD, which I loved ) This one time, they had some copies of Zap tucked away at the back of the stall. Of course, I had never seen anything like it and it blew my little mind. After that I really got into Robert Crumb, S. Clay Wilson and Robert Williams. Crumb’s ‘Weirdo’ was a favorite. I have everyone of those. There was also a beautiful book called ‘Arcade’ that featured these artists. This was the precursor of Art Spiegelman’s ‘RAW’ which revolutionized comics in the 80’s and of which I was an aficionado. It introduced artists such as Charles Burns, Mark Beyer and Gary Panter as well as Sue Coe. The graphic novel was propelled by the refining of the art form in RAW. Also, in the 80’s was ‘Love And Rockets’, Surprise! Surprise! Another true original. I really liked how they reflected real life in that book. I once had a conversation with Jamie Hernandez about the use of the name ‘Love And Rockets’ for the band. He was as cool as you would expect. In the nineties, I loved Daniel Clowes’ ‘Eightball’ and then ‘Ghost World’ which developed out of that. It’s good to see that he has been done some justice on film, ‘shame that the same can not be said about the master, Alan ( Moore ). P: How is your relationship with Perry Farrel and Dave Navarro? D J: We have been firm friends ever since Love & Rockets invited Jane’s Addiction to be special guests on a tour of the USA in the mid eighties. Perry is one of the most charismatic people I have ever met. He burns with a bright bright light. A gentleman and a cosmic scholar. Dave is a sweet man with a subtle sense of humour. He did a great job on my cover of ‘The Guitar Man’, the old Bread song. The last time I saw them together was when I played with Jane’s in the studio when they were recording ‘Strays’. We came up with the title track that day. They were one of the great bands of our times. P: How was touring with Nine Inch Nails? do you like Reznor´s music? D J: I liked coming on before NIN, it was a good exercise for us to have to go out and prove ourselves and attempt to win over another audience. Although, playing in day light is hardly ideal! We were treated with great respect by Trent and the band. I think that Trent has created some great songs, ‘Hurt’ comes to mind. I really liked it when he would strip the songs down and just come on with a keyboard and play solo. P: Can you tell me something about the new bauhaus album? D J: It was recorded very quickly. It took just over two weeks. We went in without any preparation and consequently, it has a very raw, vital feel which I love. The sound and form is reminiscent of German ‘motorik’ meets Iggy & The Stooges but very contemporary. There's a solid thickness to the sound which has never been there before, a driving and relentless intensity. P: Imagine you are staying in a country that is not aware that you are a musician, how you define Bauhaus and love and rockets for them? D J: Bauhaus: Dark, stark and intense. A maelstrom of conflicting emotions. An exorcism. A burning cathartic purge. D J: Love And Rockets: More colors to the palette. Psychedelic, layered. More ‘fun’. P: What can you tell me about your cabaret? Is it true that you asked Tom Waits to be involved in it? D J: The cabaret has been evolving over the years. I had a feel for Berlin cabaret way back at the start of Bauhaus and I believe that some of that influence was evident then. There is now a pool of very talented musicians involved. The performances are becoming more visual especially with the addition of ‘Fauxnique’ ( Monique Jenkinson ) who is a brilliant interpretive dance/performance artist. We feature some Bauhaus and Love & Rockets material plus tracks from my solo & collaborative works reinterpreted in a european cabaret style as well as several fitting covers. Tom Waits is certainly an influence but I have not asked him to be involved. I sent a copy of a track called ‘Sorrow Sleeps At Night’ to him and his wife. They liked it a lot, so I ended up talking with Tom on the phone, which was a hoot! P: Tell me about a trip that has been special and why D J: Tijuana, Mexico, 2001. I went there to work with Roberto Mendoza of the Nortec Collective. This was a meeting of minds and cultures which took in the great international leveler that is futbol ( soccer ) along the way. I shall be performing with Roberto at the Plabra Y Musica festival in Seville on March 3. P: Your music is very mystical…do you believe in anything? D J: My guru is Paramahansa Yogananda. He came to me when I was not looking for him which was exactly the right time. I recommend that you read his, ‘Autobiography of a yogi’, for a saint, he has a wicked sense of humor! Also, the Sufi way is a very beautiful mystical path. P: How do you define art? D J: That which expresses the closest thing to the inexpressible, which is the divine. P: What do you think is the meaning of life? D J: Ask me when I’m dead! |