Q+A / Story (1/3): FRONT LINE ASSEMBLY: “… and everything would have been different.”
Canada, that’s where Bill Leeb from Front Line Assembly has been living for decades. And Rhys Fulber has also retired from Florida with his son. While the whole world stares in disbelief at the U.S. (at the time of our interview, the Capitol had been stormed only a few days ago), no one is talking about Canada. “It’s a quiet, quiet place,” Bill laughs, “where not so much happens. That’s just the way it is in a politically correct country.” Here Bill switches to German, because he likes to recall his native language whenever possible. He finds his dialect funny himself: a mixture of Viennese and English accents. We, on the other hand, find this charming – even if Bill keeps modestly emphasizing that his German would not be so good anymore. We exiled Viennese get along well and ponder over Viennese pastry shops, coffee houses and walks in Schönbrunn. “Sometimes I’m overcome by a longing for Vienna. Canada is very different,” Bill admits. “But I think if I had stayed in Vienna, I wouldn’t have started Skinny Puppy and everything would have been different. There’s just a very different vibe.” Of course, this mood can also be felt in the current work of Front Line Assembly “Mechanic Soul” and now we inquire – again in English – about the background.
Orkus: At first, “Mechanical Souls” seems like a contradiction. But the longer you think about it, the better it fits. What does it mean to you?
Bill Leeb: The whole album is electronic, which makes it less human for me. Can we be soulful, soulful with our electronic sounds? After all, we’ve been doing this for a while. And you keep asking yourself over and over again: is it powerful enough, does it have meaning? Electronic music is simply “mechanical”, even if you try to make it more human. What do you think?
Dystopia, surrealism and next stop: Mars – in the next part.
(Interview: Claudia Zinn-Zinnenburg)
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FRONT LINE ASSEMBLY at “DARK ELECTRO – Classics & new” – listen & follow
