Lustmord Email interview conducted by Nina for Fabryka (Poland) October 2006.
" I'm open to anything as long as it's interesting, and I'm easy enough to reach, and would be happy to hear from anyone with worthwhile ideas. Unfortunately I tend to get asked by those without original ideas who just want to associate themselves with my work for some reason. I also often get asked by people who have neither any ideas or budgets, amusingly they're the only ones to get offended when I point out that this is how I make a living."
What's your opinion on industrial music and the whole bunch of bands that play soft electronics or death metal and add 1-2 samples or use some effects to make their music sound harsher and describe themselves as "industrial bands"? Does industrial music lose its harshness because of the people who are too lazy to take it as it is?
I have no real opinion about such nonsense. They just don't get the point and they're not worth thinking about.
Is making music an unlimited act then? Maybe the copycats are on time because everything was said and done all around music? Have you noticed styles keep repeating every decade with some mutated add-ons?
They do to a point, but only because people are lazy. There are those doing something different and interesting (as well as different but not interesting), it's just harder to be aware of them with all the other
noise.
Is there any place for such art and industrial ventures like those created by the 80's Throbbing Gristle, SPK Current 93 or Nurse With Wound in contemporary society?
I'm not sure if there is, what was happening then was very much a product of it's time, and it's more important that somebody new and younger comes along and shows the old farts how it should be done, though unfortunately that isn't happening. People are more interested in copying rather than taking an idea further or into a new direction. Having said that, it is good to see Throbbing Gristle getting recognition these days and a new generation having the chance to see them live. And Nurse With Wound never did have a place and it's good that Steve is still doing his thing.
As for Throbing Gristle, with all my respect for art, but is Genesis P. Orridge an art himself while transformed into a woman showing off his new tits worldwide?
Who cares ? I have no interest in what he might be doing.
Is it impossible to make suitable sounds using the computer to make them sound the same as those recorded in natural environment like deep caverns or underwater?
For the last couple of years it's been very possible.
So how do you make your compositions? Do you keep a complete song in your mind before you write it or is it more a concept of writting process itself while you take your place at the screen of a computer and play with sounds to create something worth of memory?
I always have the general structure and mood in mind, and usually the sounds. I the work on creating the sounds that I'll need, building a library to be used in whatever project I'm working on. During this time I'll often be inspired to take a particular sound in another direction, which sometimes suggests an idea for a different project, or which I'll add onto the original idea, taking it a little further from my original conception.
(This is _not_ an advertisement for Apple ;)) Is it a longlasting trend that musicians choose Apple Mac computers over other PCs? Is it really so infashionably bad to make music on a non-Mac PC?
The operating system for the Mac is so much more "elegant" (which is why Microshit tried though failed to mimic it) and the system as a whole is more robust and a far better system for creation, so creative people gravitate towards it. Creative people have taste after all :)
Isn't it tiresome watching a hundred of windows opening while working with Macs?
I have no idea what you mean by that. Hundreds of windows ? Are you sure you've used a Mac? And of A Mac is that bad, why has Microshit spent so much time and money in trying to copy it's OS ?
You've done a few remixes recently (Tool, Gang of Four and Larsen). Who's queued next?
No remixes planned, but I'm very open to doing more as I enjoy doing them.
What would be the greatest challenge for you in a matter of remixing?
I don't know to be honest. I'll let you know if it happens :)
Back to Tool. They have very dark and symbolic videoclips. Have you ever thought what your videoclip should look like?
I have, but it's difficult to find somebody on the same wavelength to make them, and my ideas are expensive. Ha! I'm sure there will be some kind of visuals somewhere along the line. At the moment I'm playing with ideas for possible live use.
These are great news! When could we expect to see your live shows with the visual stuff included?
First live show in 25 years was in June, I'm open to doing more, it's just a matter of what offers come up and schedule.
You've worked with musicians like Robert Rich or Andrew Lagowski (whose very good show I saw during the 4th Wroclaw Industrial Festival last year in Poland). Does a musician you choose to work with need to have some specific abilities or musical experience to make you interested in cooperation?
Again a person needs to be on the same wavelength, be committed, available, easy to work with, have a sense of humor and be within a reasonable distance. And it can be hard to find people who match all those criteria :)
If you had to choose between Lisa Gerrard and Diamanda Galás, whom would you choose to cooperate with? Have you ever considered working with some woman to bring some "heavenly" voice" to your "hellish" music? ;)
Diamanda, as I find Lisa rather pretentious. I've never met Diamanda though. Jarboe would be good and is a friend of mine. I've no problem working with women and don't view people by their sex. There should be more women working in the kind of music I'm involved with, there's too much of the "guy thing" going on.
I guess there are women involved but might be pushed aside by "guy thing", don't you think so? Have you ever come across some female musicians involved in dark ambient music, if so could you mention some names worthy of memory?
I haven't, but then I don't follow any "dark ambient" or related genre so I wouldn't know. The more women doing music of any genre the better in my opinion.
Personally, I rate 'Pigs Of The Roman Empire', the album which you've recorded with The Melvins, very high. Such a mix of two different musical styles created a peculiarly interesting and even futuristic sound. Do you consider entering similar ventures in the future? Who would you prefer to cooperate with?
Thanks, that album was a lot of fun to work on and we became good friends in the process. I'm very open to doing something similar again as the results can be interesting. I don't have specific collaborators in mind.
Is 'Stalker', the album title, bound somehow with the "stalker" character appearing in Boris and Arkadyj Strugackys' novel called "Roadside Picnic"? What's so fascinating about the stalkers?
The album was inspired by the mood and sense of place created by the movie based on that story. It was an attempt to do with sound what the movie ddid with pictures. It's not an "alternative soundtrack" to the movie as has been incorrectly reported.
Are there any other movies you would hear a different kind of tunes used as a score to instead of that finally included?
There are many, but too many too list, especially for a hypothetical question ;)
Some people state they have seen UFOs, others conduct research and look for signs of an alien civilization. If there is any other civilisation, is it possible they are further evolved in hi-tech than the human race? Or maybe the human race has achieved such a hi-tech level that it appears as a threat to the aliens?
Strange question... and one I can't possibly have an answer for. I'm sure our species is the last thing an advanced one would have any interest in, unless we became able to spread ourselves further, we are rather dangerous to have around.
Huh I wanted to drag you out of questions concerning music only because sometimes it seems a boredom to ask about similar things but.. OK let's get back to normal questions then ;] Talking about Hollywood, you live in Los Angeles. Does that full of stars city suit you well? Isn't there too hot?
It gets hot in summer (32-43 C) and today (mid October) was about 30 C, but that's a good thing if you grew up in the UK. The main thing about LA is that is big. Very big. You have to live here for a few years to realize just how big.
Southern California is a good place to be.
What are you favourite places in Los Angeles? Have you ever met any movie stars while you were buying a food for your dog? ;)
My favorite places are outside LA, in the desert. I've met "famous" people in different circumstances, but I don't prescribe to celebrity worship so there's no point talking about it.
A long awaited Zoetrope movie is available via Soleilmoon at last. Has Zoetrope been noticed by any mainstream critics? Are you preparing a follow-up?
I'm not aware of any mainstream critics reviewing the movie, but then I haven't really been following such things. I was working on various ideas with Charlie Deaux, the films director, but none of them got anywhere unfortunately.
There were a few computer games brought to the big screen like Resident Evil, Doom, Mortal Kombat to mention a few more popular ones. There is a post apocaliptic game called Fallout with amazing music by Mark Morgan. Do you think it'd be a good idea to turn it into a movie, or would it be a waste of a good idea?
I'm not familiar with the game so can't comment, but in general terms, converting games into movies is a bad idea as they're very different experiences and a good game is designed as a game, It only happens because the money behind Hollywood is only interested in profits and believe that concepts like "cross-marketing" and "name recognition" are what it is all about.
You've worked with the Happy Pencil multimedia venture. Lustmord music is played on their website (link) as background sounds. The website is full of amazing sketches, drawings, graphics and my favourite images of Rikk Roberts' scary sculptures. Are you going to get more involved into such projects with comics or graphics designers?
I will if any of them ask. I'm open to anything as long as it's interesting, and I'm easy enough to reach, and would be happy to hear from anyone with worthwhile ideas. Unfortunately I tend to get asked by those without original ideas who just want to associate themselves with my work for some reason. I also often get asked by people who have neither any ideas or budgets, amusingly they're the only ones to get offended when I point out that this is how I make a living.
Yeah it sounds weird to me too. People don't try to understand that real hard work and good ideas of others demand a payment equal to the put effort. How long have you been in making music?
25 years.
Some people state that art is a good way of therapy, letting all hidden emotions free. Do you feel some pressure, anxiety or insatiability that leads you to musicmaking?
Not at all.
So why do you make so dark serious music instead of making a living with f.e. Jenny Lopez? ;)
Simple. Because I'm crazy. You have to be a little bit crazy to do the kind of things I do. that's not necessarily a good thing.
Do you believe in love, faith, reincarnation, religion or are those things just visioners', poets' and philosophers' fiction?
Well.. they all obviously exist as concepts, so in that sense yes, but I personally don't have any use for faith or religion, though if others do, that's their own business, not mine. I believe in love, it's rather hard not too as you go through life, and at least there's something that makes it all worthwhile.
There are some though-provoking threads all around the world while people usually have something to say what makes really long discussions: sex, religion, politics and economy, drugs abuse, family abuse, making money, homosexual rights, taste in music, UFO, animal rights, abortion, racism, prostitution, WTC or the far future inventions. Which one is your domain? ;)
I can talk at length about most of those. I have strong opinions about most of them, from a left-wing perspective. Some things are just common sense to me, things like equality.
Have you ever felt burnt out, about to quit Lustmord once and for all?
A few times, but I've obviously haven't acted on that yet.
What would lead Lustmord to quit his venture?
There are a few things, like having to use my time taking care of somebody I cared about, but also if it just wasn't fun anymore.
Lustmord's name thrills fans of dark music like a magic spell. Do you often get CDs from new musicians to judge them and help in their promotion?
I used too but I don't accept them anymore, far too many just trying to sound like my worko, and I don't see the point in that.
A somehow provoking question so you may want to omit it ;) Your complete discography is present on P2P networks. Have you ever wondered how to stop such illegal activity? Is P2P networking really harmful for the artist?
I can't think of any way to stop it, especially now when so many people are used to just taking anything for free. It's a major problem for the small independent artist as they rely on sales to fund each successive project.
Does it sound frustrating that making independent art and music is doomed to be a non profitable work? Is there only one alternative - treat your music as a hobby being well know through P2P only or find a full time job to earn money?
Frustrating? I suppose it would be, but this is what I do, I'd be doing exactly the same thing if I had no success at all. We do things like this for ourselves, not for others.
Some musicians have other, non-musical hobbies. Some of them write, paint, do gardening, love to read or collect something. Do you have any other interests besides musicmaking? Do you listen to a lot of music in your free time? And finally could you tell us please what other bands is Lustmord fascinated most with?
I listen to music a lot, from a wide range of styles, but mostly rhythmic music. I particularly like slower grooves and listen to a lot of dub. Always have. (Note: See my blog on MySpace and in my forums for a list of my "Top 10" albums").
Your music is mostly know of electronics driven content. Have you ever played a guitar, bass, synths or maybe were singing sometimes? ;)
Nope.
As far as I know you have many fans in my country. Would you like to give a show in Poland? ;)
Sure.
I wish you all the best and hope you will continuously evolve the undertaking with merging art and music ventures ;)
Thanks, I'll try - put no promises ;)
Mark Morgan
Violent Pornography
