- Jul 27: Skinny Puppy Stockholm showtime moved to 21:00.
- Apr 23: Skinny Puppy @ Gothenburg.
- Apr 23: New venue, Skinny Puppy @ Stockholm.
- Apr 5: Tinitus presents: Skinny Puppy.
- Aug 5: We are back.
- Tinitus 2009 video plug
- Hocico feature
- Spark! feature
- Nitzer Ebb feature & video interview
- Combichrist interview
- Combichrist feature
- Feindflug feature
- Tinitus 2006 video plug
Combichrist: The saga so far…
Once upon a time in the mid seventies in Norway Ole Anders Olsen decided to come screaming into the world. Some odd twenty years later he decided on screaming again in an aggrotech style with Icon of Coil. About four years ago his project Drive developed into what we today know as Combichrist. Nowadays he calls himself Andy LaPlegua a name he took off an Italian magazine. The genre TBM (Techno Body Music) is supposedly founded by him, and although there is no way of conclusivly prove it; let’s just take Andy’s word for it!
Combichrist formed in the summer of 2003 and released their first album on Out of Line Records, "The Joy Of Gunz". That album is however not exactly the same stuff as he puts on the shelves of the record store these days. It is harsher and holds more distortion. I’d say it resembles Hocico? In the fall of 2004, whilst consolidating the labeling TBM the pure electronic mayhem of "Sex, Drogen und Industrial" hit orbit and the dance charts, blowing every fuckin’ raver of their feet.
Here was something new, formally dressed in the old fashioned designs of the post-apocalyptic grinds of the industrial scene, scented with sweat, brimstone and sulphur and the sickly sweet smell of burning electrical cords, if you get my point? But rising from and above all that, the catchy mainstreaming techno sound seduced also a lot of the non-believers of the distrusting crowd of the techno scene – hence a new sound was born.
Rapidly thereafter, in early 2005 Metropolis in the US and Out of Line in Germany released "Everybody hates you" blockbusting the amazing "This Shit Will Still Fuck You Up" and "Without Emotions" as Andy and his crew started in a Manson-like style to nipple on the sleaze-rock scene with all its extensions into Jack Daniels Country. Last summer the "Get your Body Beat"-ep made the lucky no.1 at the German Alternative Chart and an amazing fifth position on the US Billboard Dance chart.
So, how the fuck is this possible? What does Andy do that is so special that he lays the world at his feet like some ancient roman commander? In order to answer that question I tried to get in touch with him, but as energetic as he is, he’s obviously away on some tour somewhere and practically impossible to get hold on. If at first you don’t succeed, try and try again, as the ludicrous nuts of the Bond movie states. And if you can’t proceed forward, put it in reverse and find another way.
So I contacted his pals in the industry.
First runner up is Ronan Harris, the icon and front man of VNV Nation – ever heard of those guys? I met him, being severely Ronan at Electrixmas at Mejeriet in Lund where he was performing with his solo project Modcom – an interesting journey into the world old module synthesizers that you in a really old-school way operate by actually moving cords in order to generate different sounds. It’s inventive and bloody brilliant, if you want my opinion. No midi allowed! Ronan tells me: Andy has a lot of talent and, in some ways, genius. He’s doing today what might be the future of that particular branch of the electro scene. The thing about Andy is not only his marketing skills in creating an image for himself and his bravery in piloting these waters. No, the trick is his devotion. He sometimes comes to me with some new sound he invented – Ronan, he goes, you gotta fuckin’ hear this! And it's like he's under a spell.
Next contestant is Erk Aicrag of Hocico. This dude is the real thing, every bit as scary on stage as anyone in the biz ever was. Regardless of Hocico’s match to your taste in men and music, this punter’s got it all figured out. Catch him at his worst at Arvika 2007, the nincompoops of that party’s finally released their thumps from their dark dwellings and will present him as one of the headliners of this year. Hope he’s still got enough middle fingers for all of us! But I’m leaving the subject. Erk tells us: Andy is a real musician. Most of the bands in this genre aren’t. Pretty fuckin’ obvious, but it still needs to be said. Andy’s been into old school Hip Hop, Heavy Metal and even Punk. He’s done it all, and actually masters the instruments as well.
After all this homage to Combichrist we need to put some distance in again and try to watch it. First we must be aware that techno is not new, regardless of what effects you distort the music with. It is soooo nineties. The only new thing about Andy’s music that is immediately spotable to the normal attendant at a show is the wrap it comes in. Not that we haven’t seen people dressed up as Pinhead, not that we haven’t faced stages spawning 200 BPM of merciless kick-drum or even heard the evil hissing of aggressors revolve our semi-revoloutionary worlds. It’s the Combo, yep, it’ is all in the Combi. Experience it at Tinitus!
Text & interview: Morten Solholm
Image: Combichrist.com