[de:ad:cibel]: You don’t throw stone inside a glasshouse

The German Bass Machine, [de:ad:cibel], are currently available with their new album “Klondike” which was released in October last year.

I got the opportunity to do an interview with the two guys behind the project. What do the tagline “German Bass Machine” comes from, or what are they up to during this year?

Continue reading to find out.

Blackvector: Hello guys, how are you doing?

Daniel: Thanks, we are fine. We are still overwhelmed by the huge feedback about our latest releases – what pushes our creativity for the current remix and EP works.

Blackvector: Christmas time is just over. Have you been kind this last year? ;)

Armin: Sure! We always kept out of mischief and were focused on our releases. 2010 was the founding year of [de:ad:cibel] and everything worked better than expected. We released the „Klondike“ album and the „One of 47/Architecture“ and „Jerusalem Syndrom/Human Product“ EPs. The reviews were predominantly excellent. Not too bad for a newcomer.

Blackvector: Your music is a mix of old school EBM with influences of todays modern dark electro. How do you describe your own music?

Daniel: My depiction would be similar. We really like old school EBM sound, but we are also interested in every kind of modern electronic music. We wanted to be home between those two poles. But when we started working on „Klondike“ there was no concept or general project plan. Everything arised very spontaneously – maybe that’s the magnitude of „Klondike“.

Blackvector: From where do you find your inspiration?

Daniel: Under musicial aspects we are open minded. As I said before, we really like the sound of all the brilliant Electro bands from the 90ies. Nevertheless this does not prevent us from listening to the latest releases in electronic and experimental music. I would describe it this way: in every style of music there is a lot of scrap, but there are also some really good bands, what also makes you „move forward“. We don’t dread to listen to well done Industrial, Future Pop, Synthpop, Electro, Hellectro or whatever. It is just important to filter out the pearls of every genre. These highlights carry a approach to life, what you could consider as inspiration. Starting from this awareness of life I often create lyrics.

Blackvector: You have the German Bass Machine as your tagline. How did you come up with it and what does it mean to you?

Armin: This name was created by our friends and fans. When we started with [de:ad:cibel], we dispatched our first songs to the closer circle of friends and some friendly DJs. We just wanted to have a honest feedback. There under were songs like „One of 47“, „Architecture“, „B.I.I.D.“ or „Too tired to consume“ – very deep-bassed and danceable tracks. One of our buddies started to call us the „German Bass Machine“ and many others assumed using it. In a short time this definition became standard. We really like this tagline and support it. There were a lot of request in the last time for a „German Bass Machine“ shirt. So the people out there seems to like this definition. A funny evolution…

Blackvector: How do you see on the electronic music scene today? What do you like or not like?

Daniel: To be straightforward – I always try not to give a concrete answer to those questions. Music is always a matter of taste. When musicians deliver a judgement about other artists, this always leaves a bitter aftertaste for the involved ones. We don’t have to forget, that we are also inside the glasshouse and better do not throw stones. But the main important thing is, that the music is technical well done. For sure it must fit to the individual taste. For example I don’t like Jazz or neverending guitar solos. Many of these music productions are really brilliant, but not my matter of taste. So I also can accept that people don’t like our sound. But any criticism should be objective. I don’t like music ideologists or „genre fundamentalists“.

Blackvector: You both comes from other constellations and projects. How did you meet up and what is the story behind you two to team up?

Daniel: Armin and me met the first time in the studio of our mutual friend Jörg Hüttner. I was busy with Jörg in the band „Skorbut“. We get along intuitively and when Jörg moved to the USA, Armin got the 3rd member of „Skorbut“. Armin and me played some concerts and we also created the legendary Skorbut-EP „Phantom Pain“ together. But we slippy noticed, that the sound was very different to the songwriting of Jörg. So we decided to create a new project – [de:ad:cibel] was born.

Before that Armin and me were busy in several projects. Armin did a lot of songwriting for Yello founder „Carlos Perón“ and also had Electro projects like „The 3rd Culture“. Furthermore he did a lot of remixes for other artists, under it „Eisbrecher“ or „Miss Shiva“. Besides [de:ad:cibel] he is currently busy with the Progressive Pop project „Diskarnate“. I was active as live keyboardist for „Das Ich“, „kAlte fArben“ and the voice of the afore named Electro-Industrial Band „Skorbut“.

Blackvector: Your album “Klondike” was recently released. How have the work on it been?

Daniel: The production stages were relaxed. We could work without pressure because there were no expectations to this new project. We had a lot of fun while producing „Klondike“. Especially humorous songs like „Architecture“ or „Too tired to consume“ are unique. The approach to new songs was very spontaneous.

Blackvector: Are you satisfied with the result?

Armin: Sure! We had not released „Klondike“ if we had not been satisfied to 100%. Nobody forced us to sound a certain way. The feedback is absolutely positive. We think we are on the right way.

Blackvector: So, the final one. What can we expect from you in 2011?

Daniel: We just started to work on new songs. When we have a collection of diversified new material, we will try to release the next album as soon as possible. Hope this will be in 2011. We also have some live gigs in preparation. In the 90ies I played some concerts in Sweden with „Das Ich“ and really was enthused about the very special club atmosphere. So it would give us great pleasure to make some gigs in Sweden with [de:ad:cibel]!

Thank you very much for your time!