Apoptygma Berzerk
interview by Aaron Pompey
Mish Mash crashed the Knitting Factory green room to interview Apoptygma Berzerk founder and lead singer Stephan Groth and get his thoughts on the new line-up, Jack White, weird US accents, vampire geeks, and his double-edged perspective on the internet.
Mish Mash Magazine: So, I was reading up a lot about you guys and I’ve heard a lot of your stuff. As far as I know, this is one of the first times you’ve been touring the US.
Stephan Groth: This is actually our fourth.
MM: But one of the first times with this line-up?
SG: With this line-up its, yeah. I think it’s the 12th gig we’re doing with this line up. When we started this tour, the first gig we did was in DC. That was the first time that all of us was in the same room together. So, that was pretty strange, but it worked out really, really good. So yeah, exciting news.
MM: So how is that impacting, you know, the direction of the music or the sound?
SG: A little bit, but not really that much because the drummer we have, Thomas who is playing the drums, he has been the stand-in for our previous drummer for a long time. So he’s been doing gigs with us for a year or so because Frederick, our previous drummer, is in another band called Tommy Tokyo in Norway, which just got a gold record, so he had to tour [for that band] all the time. So Thomas is kind of playing in the same style because he’s been the stand-in for a long time so he’s adapted to this style a little bit. Of course, he’s adding his own touch to it – I mean all drummers sound a little bit different. Unless you’re, like, really into drumming.
MM: The nuances of it…
SG: Yeah, you’re not going to notice it. So it’s a little bit different than what we have been doing the last few years. But to me it’s really exciting because it’s new, fresh, and exciting. And that’s what people have been telling me the last two weeks when they’ve come to shows: that you can really tell that we are having fun because there are no routines – every day is another adventure.
MM: Right, exactly. So are you looking at a different kind of future with this line-up, then?
SG: No, not really. I’ve always been the main man and songwriter. I’m to Apop what Trent Reznor is to Nine Inch Nails or Robert Smith to The Cure. It’s been my band since the beginning. My vision, my songwriting, and so on. But, I’ve always had other people around me, helping me out, because obviously I can’t play four instruments up there at the same time. So I’m just continuing what I started, in a way. The guys I have on board now, they are really in to it. You know, I am from Norway and we’ve always had Norwegians in the band but this time, our guitarist, he is actually from LA so that’s quite exciting, too. Americans are very good guitarists.
MM: Who do think are some of the best American guitarists?
SG: Oh, there are so many out there. But I would say number one’s Jack White. He’s an amazing drummer, too. Singer, songwriter, everything. Lyrics, artwork – he’s just probably my biggest hero.
MM: As you’re touring the US, do you have any favorite stops?
SG: It’s so different, you know. In Europe, you go one day England, then next day France, then Germany, and it’s so different. You know, obviously, the way people talk. The food is different: the drinks, the whole mentality – everything is different. Over here you’re all kinda speaking the same language in all the states. There’s like weird accents here and there but its still like – when you go to a new state – going to a new country in a way, so it’s extremely exciting.
I mean, New York…L.A….two great cities. I love them both but two totally different things. It would be the same as, what do you prefer? France or Germany? They’re both great in their different ways. You know, it’s the same with LA and New York except you speak almost the same language.
MM: Do you ever get any feedback from your fans in the US?
SG: Oh, yeah, especially online. From our Facebook and MySpace…
MM: (Laughs) The usual?
SG: Yeah, and vampire geeks and reverb nation and all those things. I really love the development that has been in the last many years online where there’s that interaction going on. So we get instant feedback, you know: we can upload a video, upload a new song, put out an album, or whatever and there’s instant feedback, you know? Back in the day it used to take forever. You put out an album and sit and wait for the first review and you could wait two months. Now you know the next day, you have 200 emails saying whatever. So, I really like that. And I try to reply to as many people as possible but of course its impossible to reply to everybody.
MM: You’re pretty engaged with the online presence?
SG: Big time, big time. Especially now, with our new album out. I’m online 24/7 the whole year, but now there’s new shows coming up and new activity. I have a computer in the studio – it’s on 24/7. On Facebook and MySpace chatting with people and tweeting, you know, what’s going on in the studio. And uploading photos, stuff like that. I like that kind of interaction.
MM: Do you feel that that’s helped to change – well, the industry for sure – but how do you feel that it has changed you and your music?
SG: Well, the industry has been going down the drain for years now and that’s a long story that we could talk about for hours. I don’t know. The way you usually communicate is through an album – you would usually communicate through the music and the lyrics and that was it. And fans would read an interview here or there and gather the big picture of what the project was about. Before MySpace and Facebook, say somebody in Arkansas bought an Apop album and had questions – they would read the German interviews and Russian interviews and have questions, but no way to ask. Now, they can send them to me or my management. Or we have several fan sites where people are collecting questions over the year and once a year or twice a year I will get to do an interview based on fans’ questions. So, I think that’s a really nice way to communicate and one of the huge benefits about Internet. At least something good comes out of it.
Of course when it comes to sales and illegal downloading and all that stuff, it’s a disaster. It has ruined so much. It’s so hard for European bands to come over here and tour these days. It’s so hard because its extremely expensive. The expenses are insane. Plane tickets, crew, renting your guitars, and gas – all the expenses are still there but there’s no income. So you only have income from ticket sales and merchandise and now and then you get a commercial or video game, but that’s once a year. The possibilities of income are very hard. You’re gonna see in the very near future that fewer and fewer European bands have the money to come over here and play. The American labels – they don’t have the money to back it up because there’s no income. And the same the other way around, actually even worse…. when the dollar is week and euro is strong. It’s hard.
But I am very excited that so many people are still going to concerts. It seems that even though record sales have dropped people still want to go out more to good shows. And they are like clinging on it.
MM: There’s a distinction between what you get when you are listening to an album and what you get when you go to a show – it’s a very different kind of experience. For you personally, what do you try to do onstage or with your stage presence to distinguish those two kinds of experiences?
SG: I mean, going to a concert compared to buying an MP3, you can’t even compare it. Every night, there’s like this magic to it: watching a band play live and hearing your favorite songs. Especially with our show – we have a lot of sing-a-long songs; there’s a lot of interaction with the audience. I’m out there with the microphone and some of the songs, they’ll sing the whole chorus – and that’s like having a little break there.
You can sit at home and sing along to an MP3, but when you are at a concert hall and you can actually sing along to your favorite songs with the band right here – that’s another thing right there.
When we tour Europe, we have spectacular light shows and cool effects. Now it’s a punk tour and we have a backdrop with our name on it and that’s the only thing we have. Which is good, ‘cause we have to put on an even better show to get the crowd going.
Tags: apoptygma berzerk, stephan groth
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