üter

interviewed by Denim and Diamonds

What equipment do you use to make yr inventive and rich orchestrally dark rhythmnns, man?

Declan: Crappy old keyboards and such, combined with a crappy old PC and a sprinkle of magic.

Do you ever party with Ladytron cause I hear those Liverpool blokes like to party, totally (wink wink, nudge nudge) ?!

D: No, but I'd sure like to party with those Ladytron burds. Eh? Woof woof!!

Would you want to party with us in the US?

D: If you like to party like it's 1999, then yes!

What is your take on US foreign policy especially when you find out that the people in power are not only blatantly lying to the American public but also the entire world?

D: America's apparent blind patriotism and allegiance to "the flag" lets monkeymen like Bush do what he likes, enlisting bumlicks like our own lovely Mr Blair to help him in his quest for money and world domination/destruction. In summary, he's a fud! (a Scottish word for ladies' bits)

Marceline: It would be nice if one day the US would stop thinking it runs the world and let other countries sort out their own problems. Maybe then they wouldn’t need to invent reasons to justify their actions.

Your music seems to represent a systemic problem from the top down. Is this in anyway reflective of obvious management flaws inside the administration of the US government?

D: Yes.

What bands have you found to be models in the construction of your music and how exactly would you reduce yourself to a five second soundbite/blurb if such a thing ever became necessary for the life of your career?

Too many to mention. Most songs are created with ideas stolen from
individual songs or using lucky mistakes. The Jesus & Mary Chain used a lot of reverb on Psycho Candy though. I like reverb!

Could you fill in those out there that don't already know much about
your musical act on how exactly you approach the scheduling of a live night of music? How do you present the music visually live?

Without a great deal of organisation, to be honest. I own all the equipment
which is set up in my bedroom where we practise. We pretty much take our stuff to the venue and make noises with it when people arrive, then we go home. I don't pay Martin or Marceline enough money yet to be able to make them to wear the Mr T mask I have. I was told after our last gig that we looked "too cool for school" which I like but kind of doubt. We also have
flashing Christmas lights on our keyboards.

Do you have any upcoming tours of the Northeast US or anywhere overseas?

No. No one's asked us yet. We'd do it though. I've got nothing else to do
and Martin and Marceline have shitey jobs, so some time soon with some luck.

Have you heard of the recent accusations by the FBI against Dr. Stephen Kurtz and the Critical Art Ensemble (CAE) as outlined on
www.caedefensefund.org?

From what I read on the webpage it sounds typical of a paranoid
right-wing government more interested in retaining money and power for
themselves and their buddies than freedom of expression and speech.

Do you think a case like the one against Kurtz could have a chilling
effect on other forms of artistic expression?

I imagine this is not the first time such bullying has occurred in The War
Against Terror. More of the same in future I expect.

Are you a Mod or a Rocker?

I'm a Rod!