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Interview
by SashaS
27-9-2003
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| T.Raumschmiere charges at Radio Blackout |
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Theatre Of Mind
T.Raumschmiere is monster-trucking ‘electro-punk’ wave
At its most potent Rock’n’Roll used to pervert the course of history but it hasn’t happened since… well, (wo)man – Nirvana and that’s been over for about a decade. Killing Joke’s new album has come somewhere near exploding a head or a dozen, but the times have changed as well… At the ‘Age of celebrity’, it is legal to be bland and yet appreciated and consumed en masse.
There are solitary sonic warriors who take up the offensive to charge upon the fortress of dumbness. There are musicians who strive to provide theatre for mind that kicks large noise inside some eager-but-idle craniums. Welcome to ‘Radio Blackout’ and T.Raumschmiere world that resists restrictions the industry so readily applies to zeitgeist. There is sparkling diversity throughout the disc, from punk, electro, hip-hop, rock and cyber-atmo moods, all unleashed with passion and guts you start to wonder whether there is a secret ingredient to bratwurst. On ‘Radio Blackout’ the man-who-is-T.Raumschmiere has his machine-attention candidly tuned.
“Rock music has been stagnating, recycling,” T. Raumschmiere proclaims in his stern English, “and all the big bands of the moment are just like copies of the 1970’s Glam-rock. [The Darkness?] And it is happening to all kinds of music, people have run out of ideas.”
Just like Hollywood; there were 36 sequels released last year!?
“I’m not claiming to have invented a new style,” T.R. clarifies his charge, “I also use elements that marked my background. There is a difference between being influenced and ripping-off. I do not want to rip anybody off.”
Insomniac's dreams
Since 1997 Marco Hass has released music on a variety of labels, though predominantly on his own - the splendidly named Shitkatapult, as well as Cologne’s Kompakt and Hefty Records (Chicago) – is now signed to London based NovaMute. The parade of tracks on the debut disc kicks in with ‘I’m Not Deaf, I’m Ignoring You’ with rock-hard metal riffage, to be succeeded by the blistering single ‘Monstertruckdriver’, a punk-glam-techno; ‘The Game Is Not over’ is a digi-punk-rock, tech-pogo goes ‘Rabaukendisco’ (translation ‘Robotdisco’)…
The chaos gets contained on ‘Drown In the Sea While Watching The Stars’, ‘A Million Bothers (Blah Blah Blah)’, the title track… We ask the Berlin-based man, if his disc could be the answer?
“I don’t think it is the answer, I don’t want to have the answer,” T.R. counters, “and even if I had it I wouldn’t want to give it. All artists can do is continue doing what we are doing and offer people an alternative, another way of thinking, another way of voicing your vision… Boy-bands will continue to appear but we should continue to fight it by doing our own, original stuff.”
“It is sad but a lot of great music doesn’t get heard because of all the crap on the market, the business thing is so kaput, so much great music is not heard because it is not instant; also, if you have no video clip to help your record on television programmes, people won’t hear about it because they don’t listen to the radio or go out… They’ve become lazy because they get all the entertainment they want in their own homes. But, strangely and sadly, there is a radio blackout in their lives.”
“And, Internet, it is still new and having a big impact on the society. It’ll take few years for people to get used to it and start balancing their real with cyber relationships, because electronic one has replaced human contacts.”
MuSick boy's life
Without doubt, the T.Raumschmiere experience is best sampled live: for him concert arena is as crucial as the studio, his full-on ‘stay-anti’ motto confirming his punk based refusenik stand. He is a one-man elektro-punk wave, deconstructing and reassembling with new viciousness, vitriol, revolt! The album ends with an explosive track that subverts, calls to arms and recalls the proud days of another German milestone-rs, DAF…
“That’s the track, ‘MuSick Boy’, that the best describes my life as well as my performance,” Mr Haas concurs, “everything is maximum, RED, extreme! It is strange how things evolve, when I started recording the album I had about 15 ideas that were so different… But, I knew I wanted to make an album with a concept of not-having-a-concept and that’s what I told the label, before signing: I didn’t want to do just a techno, rap, rock or whatever. I don’t see myself as techno-artist because my background is punk.”
“But that is not important now,” T.R. adds quickly, “it is not about what I did ten years ago, it is about T.Raumschmiere; I don’t feel ashamed about my past but this is different, this is apart from that… I still do play drums for a punk-band in Berlin because I need that physical aspect of shows. I just about look like the Animal from the Muppets Show!”
“I’m egotistical as far as music goes,” T.R. confesses suddenly, “it’s like having sex with yourself. I work in a studio on my own most of the time and I talk to myself, to the machines…”
T.Raumschmiere’s moniker is lifted from the William S. Burrough’s short story ‘The Dreamcops’ (‘Die Traumschmiere’ in his native German).
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Tour dates:
03 October – The Social, Nottingham
04 October – Barfly, Cardiff
07 October – Barfly, London
08 October – John Peel session @ Maida Vale studios, London
09 October – Music Box, Manchester
10 October – The Arches,
11 October – ICA, London
SashaS
27-4-2005
T.Raumschmiere’s album ‘Radio Blackout’ is released 22 September 2003 on NovaMute
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