Monozid – interview with Franz
http://www.myspace.com/monozid
http://www.myspace.com/transmission_magazin
Nattsol: Greetings, Franz. For a start, drop a few words about yourself please: How have you faced the post-punk music? And what made you being involved into it? How have you started?
FRANZ: o.k. when i was a young teenager at the age of 14 i discovered bands like SISTERS OF MERCY, JOY DIVISION and THE CURE. for some strange reason they seamed to appeal to the way i felt at this time. a melancholic young boy in a boring city in eastern germany. so i became a goth-kid for many years. after some years i felt a bit bored about this scene, moved forward to bands like THE SOUND and CHAMELEONS and as my mind opened more and more i discovered the various and exciting faces of 80s postpunk with bands like AU PAIRS, ESG, A CERTAIN RATIO and so on… but beside this i listen to a lot of different stuff, too. from postrock, early hc/emo-core, shoegaze, 80s new romantic and trashy-dance stuff, to electronic music and whatever.
when i left my hometown and moved to leipzig i met the right people and we started to set-up dance-parties and concerts in a local squat. also i became friend with the «d.i.y. – do it yourself» attitude (a thing i was mostly missing in the goth-scene), started to set up more shows and worked voluntarily in self-organized places. all the time i wanted to start a band (after some unsuccessful tries in my hometown) and when i organized a show for our drummers former band FORMFLEISCH i met this crazy guy and we started MONOZID as well as the only postpunk-fanzine in this country, called TRANSMISSION.
that s the beginning of the story. but it took us 6 years and many many bandmembers (especially on bass) to reach the point where we are now as a band. finally with our debut-album out. we are very happy about this!!!
Nattsol: Let’s talk about the band itself. Tell me, please, about the band’s very beginning. I mean, what were the references and how they were improved in the creative process, what was the public’s reaction when you started etc. In common, how the band was standing up and taking its level.
FRANZ: Well i think when Max and me started we were in fact much more inspired by the (cold)wave/new wave bands as we are today so the first songs were quite melancholic and also more pathetic stuff. for me it was important to write the lyrics in german. so there are just a few bands who sang in german who i liked a lot, like MALARIA! or XMAL DEUTSCHLAND. they managed to say a lot with just a few words. so it was like a challenge for me. it is in fact harder to write lyrics when you know that everybody can understand the words. singing in english is easier as you can hide behind some common phrases like «oh baby i miss you so much» or «between the devil and the deep blue sea». so the first songs were in german and i tried to make the best out of this language. it is hard to sing in german as you can hardly get a melody into these words. the peoples reactions… it is hard to say. we got positive feedback but we were often fixed onto bands like FLIEHENDE STUERME or EA80 (in germany very famous dark punk bands from the 80s), maybe because there are not so many bands singing in german and playing some sad punk-influenced music. we got bored about that. also about «oh you sound like THE CURE. which other influences do you have beside THE CURE?». don t get me wrong, we like these bands. but you really get bored when you hear that all the time. i think there are a lot of other bands and sounds that also influenced us.
i don t know exactly why, but later i started to write in english. most of the lyrics i write don t have a special topic. it is just more to describe a special feeling or atmosphere. although there are some songs with a political or personal message. so singing is much easier with english words.
for the music. it took shape when ralf joined the band 3 years ago and the line-up was complete. he brought more different influences as he is a serious noiserock and no wave – fan. also i think our minds opened much in the last years for different kinds of music. when you are just focused on one «scene» it is really the end for creativity. you always have to look for new shores!
Nattsol: Monozid has quite interesting style – cold (wave) atmosphere, post-punk approach, some «pop enough» elements and many other details. So how can you describe the band’s style and sound? Were (are?) there ever some things with the style you’d love to try, change or improve, which you didn’t manage to (or failed in process)
FRANZ: to describe our sound. this is really hard as i can t look at my own band from an outside point of view…. well it is some kind of melancholic stuff. that s for sure and this has its roots in the minds of all the band mates. there is some pop but also some noise and some atmospheric sounds. just listen to it
yes, i want to change our sound. we just have reached the first big stage: our debut album. i really don t want to record the same songs again. so the new songs should sound different. for the moment i would like to go more into dancy, strong, rhythmic stuff. a bit funky in the vein of THE AU PAIRS or A CERTAIN RATIO. more experimental and weird without losing the catchiness. i hope we can manage this….
Nattsol: Could you represent and tell the stories of the band’s EPs, ‘Erstens’ and ‘Waiting For The Circus’. Are there some other band’s EPs, demos or something like that?
FRANZ: The songs on «Erstens» were really our first songs that we have written in the beginning. The song «Erstens» means «the very first». It is about starting to write again. when i was a teenager i had so many emotions inside of me that wanted to be written down. so i wrote hundreds of lyrics for imaginary songs. then after some years i stopped writing. but when we started MONOZID i was in the situation to be forced to write again. so i was asking myself «Why did you stop writing? Is there nothing left to say?». i had to find some words again. i had to look for my emotions deep inside.
we just listened to these songs again on the way back from our tour and it was quite funny as we didn’t listen to them for a long time. i think the songs are good. the only problem was, that we recorded them with an electronic drum kit. i prefer a real one.
«Waiting for the circus» is about the feeling that nothing special happens in your life and you are always waiting for the «big thing» to happen. «The circus» coming to your town is a metaphor for that. but if you want some change in your life you have to do it by yourself. very simple. ;-)
«Auf hoher see» is about beeing a shipwrecked person. you are swimming in the ocean but you don t die because of being cold but you fall asleep instead as it is so boring. it is a strange dream. «vier waende weiter» was written by max so i can t say much about the lyrics.
we didn t record stuff beside that which is worth mentioning.
Nattsol: So the debut album. Could you represent it to a listener? What it contains in «inside» and «outside» aspects?
FRANZ: we recorded the songs last spring and it took us more than a year to release it. so the songs are about 1-2 years old and «waiting for the circus» is even older. we are really happy that we finally managed to get an album together. i think the 12 songs give a wide range of the sounds that stand for our band. from more pop songs, to epic postrock stuff and some more strange songs, too. i don t really understand what you mean with » «inside» and «outside» aspects» but if you are talking about the cover, this was made again by our good friend alexandru from romania. he is really a great artist and also a passionate musician (with ROMANTIC JURGEN www.myspace.com/romanticjurgen). beside that he is one of the main characters in romanian underground scene.
Nattsol: Let’s talk about the band’s concert life. How has it happened that Monozid began to give shows outside of Germany?
FRANZ: the main idea about having this band was always to play as many shows, as possible. and playing outside germany seemed to be the big adventure for the band. so two years ago we were planning our first trip which was leading us to france, spain and switzerland. we only got 5 shows together but it was great fun. the possibility to tour came mainly through personal contacts. friends and bands we know and for which we have set up shows here in leipzig. that s the way how these things work if you are a small band without any name or big promotion.
the next tours to italy, eastern europe or this year again to france, spain and switzerland were even better and we were surprised that we could find so many gigs. playing outside germany is always much more fun (and i think it is even easier to find gigs with the “foreigner-bonus”). it is like being on holiday. you always see new and often strange places, you meet so many nice and friendly people. That’s what makes it worth to run such a band. also for the band itself it is good to travel around and spend some time with these 3 crazy other people.
Nattsol: You had the tour just recently – so what «have you brought» from there?
FRANZ: from our last tour we brought a lot of sweet memories. we shared such a great time with our friends THE HOLY KISS (www.myspace.com/theholykiss). they are amazing!! beside that we saw so many places which were really great. we played in a lot of different venues. squats, bars, normal clubs. we stayed with very friendly people. we were swimming in the atlantic ocean on a rainy night after we didn’t have a shower for 4 days. most of the shows were really great. although there could have been more people showing up at the show here and there. sometimes we also had to cope with a bored crowd. but that is what happens from time to time.
after the half of the tour the 5th gear of our van didn’t work any more so we had to drive the last 3000km of the tour with about 80/90 km/h. so it took us a while…
Nattsol: Well, every activity has its good and bad sides. Regarding to playing in the band, if have a look at the entire band’s history, what are the positive and the negative sides? In your opinion, is that possible to improve these bad aspects if have a try? How?
FRANZ: In general, there are no negative sides to play in a band. I can’t see why there should be negative sides. Of course it takes time and you spend a lot of money but that’s the way it is. For the positive sides: Playing in a band allows you to create something on your own. I always wanted to play in a band. So i am happy that i found some people to share this. Of course you have to get along with each others personality and you have to manage with the different ideas everybody has. But that is nothing special. If you want to do something with other people you have to work in a team. If this works, you can see the positive effects. You can travel to other cities and countries, play your songs, meet a lot of people, record your music and so on. these are very nice positive aspects.
Nattsol: After the album and the tour, does it mean that the band will bury themselves in rehearsal room for a while, or you have some other plans? May be, some crazy ones? ^^
FRANZ: After the album we really have to think in which direction we want to go with the band. I don t want to go on in the same way. but find some new musical ideas. i think we will include some other instruments. we will see.
due to other things we have to do, we will have a break from touring during the summer. so we will have time to work on new songs. there are no more plans at the moment.
Nattsol: Let’s turn to your another activity, I mean TRANSMISSION fanzine. Tell me, please, about its foundation and about the purposes you gave it. Can you say that these purposes got some shades during your work?
FRANZ: max and me we started TRANSMISSION about the same time when we founded MONOZID. the idea was to support underground bands. about 10-15 years ago i was reading a lot of small german gothic-fanzines like GOTH S NOT DEAD, TOTEM or BLOODSTAINED TEARS. soon they all disappeared and there was no fanzine anymore. so we had to do the job. with the years we moved a bit away from the goth/deathrock stuff, so we tried to discover more various sounds out of the postpunk-area. we made 7 issues. the last 4 issues included a compilation called «awake in the greylight». you can find them also for free download on our website www.transmission-magazin.net
also we tried to include other topics beside music, like arts, political things and so on.
in the last two years we got lazy with the zine because we were involved in too many other things. so i don t know at the moment if there will be another issue… in the last years we focussed more on setting up gigs under the name «transmission». so we had shows with FOR AGAINST, THE HOLY KISS, VARSOVIE and many many more. in june we will have a noise-festival called «CLAWS OF SAURTOPIA» with a lot of crazy bands like NED or DON VITO.
Nattsol: As I know, TRANSMISSION is the only post-punk fanzine in Germany. Tell me, please, how it «stood up» and took its place. You must be faced many difficulties, so it’s really interesting to know how you managed to solve them. Who helped you in it?
FRANZ: well in fact there is no real interest in a postpunk-fanzine. we knew this before. the “big time” of the printed fanzine is long gone. the new generation was grown up with the internet and so young people probably don?t understand the idea of a fanzine. so it is hard to sell this stuff. we got some help from mailorders like STROBELIGHT which was cool.
i think the difficulties beside that are to find time and to motivate yourself to be creative.
Nattsol: So you mean you want to reform the fanzine into the concert agency? In common, what are the levels you’d love to spread this your activity and what kind of borders you’d love to found?
FRANZ: No, we don t want to reform the fanzine into a concert agency. «agency» sounds like a business. we are doing all these things «just for fun» and without getting any money. it is the «do it yourself» idea which forces us to do these things. in fact we pay money for doing this stuff like having a band or doing a fanzine. it is a hobby you spend money on.
we are setting up shows and organizing dance-parties for years and in the last time organizing concerts was getting more important for us than doing the fanzine. that s all.
the problems we have in doing this are… if we are talking about postpunk-scene in the more dark/goth orientated way is that 1.) people are not interested in seeing new bands they don’t know yet. people just want to go to a dance-party and listen to all the songs they know from their stereo or see a cool, trendy and stylish band. 2.) also the bands are not touring. if you want to have a band from that kind of scene you have to book them for one gig on the weekend which is too expensive for us. we are setting up shows in non-profit/d.i.y.-places so we can’t pay much for a band. so usually we can’t invite (a foreign) band for just one gig. 3.) also a lot of the bands from that scene want too much money because they think they are cool rockstars or whatever. so in general i would say, that the whole goth/deathrock-postpunk scene doesn’t have much of the underground/d.i.y.-spirit. that s why they are mostly not connected with this scene and these places. those bands usually don’t play in squats or non-profit places. but that’s what we are doing. so most of the times this doesn’t fit together.
Nattsol: Well, if you abandon the fanzine, is there a possibility that a one will keep up this work, or it will die?
FRANZ: well it is our fanzine. so if we don t do it anymore it will die. sad but true
Nattsol: What do you think, what’s the situation on the German post-punk and gothic scene nowadays? And what’re the differences between post-punk and gothic?
FRANZ: well i was saying some words about this topic already in the question above. in general i am really bored about this scene so i don t care much. in the last few years i was not involved in that scene anymore so i don t know. to me most of the people seem to be just into fashion, styling or whatever. also i don t like 95% of the bands of that scene. I think the best german band in that direction are MURDER AT THE REGISTRY but unfortunately their keyboarder died so I don’t know if they will go on.
Differences between post-punk and gothic?? hard to say. I think “post-punk” is a very wide label like “new wave”. it can mean all and nothing. in general gothic is more about the dark things and often has some pathetic elements. but these are things you know ;-) but also, what do the VIRGIN PRUNES and for example ROSETTA STONE do have in common?? both bands labeled as “gothic” but totally different. but you could also label the VIRGIN PRUNES as “post-punk”….
Nattsol: So, the scene you’re interested in – does it have some musical borders, or just this underground D.I.Y. approach? Tell me about it. What were the most remarkable for you bands you were working with?
FRANZ: For musical borders: Of course there are some everywhere. So for example if you are setting up shows in a place where usually hardcore, crust and punk bands are playing it can be hard to get people listen to a more “soft” sounding band playing like new wave, shoegaze or whatever…also there is of course the problem you have everywhere that it is hard to get people to a show of an unknown band.
The most remarkable bands we?ve worked with were all the bands from “hungry eye records” (in my eyes the best label for postpunk at the moment). bands like BLACK ICE, SIXTEENS, MT.SIMS, THE WEEGS, HOLY KISS and related acts like SWANN DANGER and NORA KEYES. these were impressive shows and all of them really nice people!! that?s the most important thing. that you don?t have to deal with arrogant assholes. also I have good memories of the shows we did for THEE IRMA AND LOUISE, BEN ET BENE, FOR AGAINST and the crazy PSYCHOCANDY from perugia/italy. but all the bands we had were great!!
Nattsol: Now I want to ask you the “traditional” personal question – tell about yourself. Whatever you want, but apart from your music activity.
FRANZ: Well, what do you want to hear?? I am living my life, drinking, dancing, loving. trying to survive in this shitty capitalist society and this fucking state. I am trying to be creative in some ways. trying to think about the things going on around me. that?s it. nothing special.
Nattsol: Thank you for the interview. And, again traditionally, your final words. ?
FRANZ: Yes, nattsol. thanks a lot for your interest in our music and our band!! keep going on supporting underground music!! that?s the coolest thing people can do. hey and I hope we will meet one day in Russia!! I was never there but really like to go!! ralf was traveling through Russia and he liked it a lot there. so we have to come soon!!
Questions: Pall ‘Nattsol’ Zarutskiy
‘Grave Jibes Fanzine’
