Interview: Kill Your Friends

Douglas J McCarthy interview by Erik Rédli.

Note: The author's views are entirely his or her own and may not reflect the views of RetoxMagazine.com

Kill Your Friends

Douglas J McCarthy is an English electronic musician and a former member of the EBM band Nitzer Ebb. EBM stands for Electronic Body Music, that kind of sound full of electronic beats, shouted or growled singing and special effects. It can be labelled as a subgenre, or descendant of the electronic music. It can be labelled as a subgenre, or descendant of the electronic music. Although attempts to record music have been going on since the 19th century, it was only in the 70's and the formation of the pioneering bands like the German band Kraftwerk who brought about electronic music to be taken seriously. Later even some rockers crossed over to the technology and proved that in order to sound progressive one does not have to dress up as a robot. But the massive feedback came only recently. Not too long ago, many people would still say that it is music suitable for aerobic sessions, or just chill out with friends and cokers. But the generation of computers changed the cultural development towards robotics.

Douglas J McCarthy, Kill Your Friends

The change of public tastes called for a new breed of musicians using computers, and recording devices as the only instruments. One of them is Douglas J McCarthy and his school friends from the Nitzer Ebb. Apart from them, he cooperated with many other electronic musicians; actually he plugged in wherever there was a gadget. In November 2012 McCarthy released his first solo album called Kill Your Friends. Critics were quite generous and encouraging in their reviews. In the following interview I want to reveal what is hidden behind the album’s name, as well as find out something about the EBM.

Exclusive Interview With Douglas J McCarthy

Retox: You have been in electronic music for pretty long, why did you decide to come up with a solo album only now?

DJM: A while ago, when I took a break from Nitzer EBB, I stepped out of making music for commercial release. Then, when I did get back into making music it was with Terence Fixmer as Fixmer/McCarthy which led to the reunion of NE and then a new NE album. So this was really the first opportunity I have had to put my mind to a solo project.

Retox: Tell us about your beginnings in music. Who were your idols and what particular inspiration did you take from them?

DJM: There were a lot! Basically "coming of age" in the UK post punk scene meant I was listening to, and being influenced by some of the greatest and influential bands of all time – Souxsie and the Banshees, Bauhaus, Killing Joke, Theatre Of Hate, The Virgin Prunes, Malaria, PiL, DAF, Abwärts – the list goes on and on. It was always the energy and irreverence that drew me and still draws me to their music.

Retox: Why is the album called Kill Your Friends, was there any kind of social experience that lead to the title?

DJM: Well spotted! It is a play on the old adage, "keep your friends close and your enemies closer". Just me and my wife being silly about some less than pleasant "friends" so we coined "love your enemies, kill your friends". The Kill Your Friends bit stuck.

Retox: And how do fellow Nitzer Ebb members feel about your solo projects?

DJM: Absolutely no idea, as it happens.

Retox: The electronic music is becoming more and more popular and the technology takes care of alot. Do you think that in the future the human creativity will be totally silenced and all music making will be left to computers?

DJM: Try as I might, I still haven't found a computer to write a good song.

Retox: Tell us more about electronic music making. What comes first, the lyrics or the flow? Can you describe a general procedure of making a song, or is it merely intuition and experiment?

DJM: Vary in my approach but mainly, and certainly on KYF, it's the music. I wrote nearly everything before hand and then found melodies and lyrics. Sometimes I worked out everything as I went along. And then just yesterday I woke up with a vocal melody in my head and I'm using that as a basis for a new song. Possibly.

Retox: What is the "Move On" song about, and how about the meaning of the "Evil Love"?

DJM: For most of the tracks on the album I employed a much less direct style of lyrics, more setting a scene with words. 'Move On' is a much more direct approach, partly because the music is so direct and immediate. It's pretty much what you think it is describing – being sick of a situation and moving on.

'Evil Love' is a much more esoteric affair. I wanted to evoke something of a 80's electro-dub-dance-sleaze feel, and the lyrics were just what was coming to my mind after the music had been written – a stream of consciousness, if you will. I think it has ended up being a critique (again!) of religious beliefs that somehow STILL manage to manifest themselves in our daily lives.

Retox: While working on the album you visited India? Did you find any particular inspiration in the local culture and music?

DJM: I did indeed. I found it to be incredibly inspirational on all fronts. My wife and I travelled by train and I can't recommend it enough. We had no set agenda and just figured out where we wanted to go and how long we wanted to be there almost on a whim. The sheer scale of humanity in India is a source of overwhelming emotions and ideas.

Retox: According to some reviews, the album recalls the Heroes era of David Bowie? Citing him as a source of inspiration is popular, almost a cliché amongst musicians. How do you feel about that?

DJM: I was born in 1966 so Glam rock in the early 70's was pretty much my first experience of a musical genre taking place, of which Bowie was obviously a great part of. Then, as I approached 11 years old, and although there was already Punk - even in the suburbs, Marc Bolan had a TV show that came on after I came home from school and I vividly remember Bowie being on that too. Soon after in '79 there were the Iggy Berlin albums that he did with Bowie and Heroes followed by The Lodger and Scary Monsters. I think you get the idea that if anything, it would be disingenuous of me not to cite Bowie as an influence.

Retox: What do you think about Krautrock? Is modern electronic music a completely separate genre, or still somewhat related to the rock origins?

DJM: I think they are totally related. I listen to Can and Neu! a great deal.

Retox: According to you, who were the three most influential people in the world of electronic music and why?

DJM: Daniel Miller for finding and supporting a vast array of electronic music artists, even when they were not signed to Mute. Flood, for always looking for the most inspired approach to take. Conny Plank, for, well, Kraftwerk, Neu!, DAF, Eno… etc., etc… artists that either have influenced me directly or have influenced other artists that I admired only to find out who they were inspired by originally.

Retox: And finally, what do you do when you don't make music?

DJM: I enjoy cooking, to varying degrees of success. I hike the mountains and desert adjacent to LA. I visit a lot of art shows.