Bauhaus band
“
The Art of Bauhaus ”
Interview
International
Musician and Recordind World
magazine, July 1983
ΜΟΥΣΙΚΗ
αποσπάσματα από τη συνέντευξη-άρθρο στο περιοδικό “
International Musician and Recording Wold ”, July 1983.
Εισαγωγή:
Back in the
old days when revolution
was merely the act of punctuating your sentences with
'man', and beating the system simply involved buying a student railcard, the renaissance
of musical rebellion was but an embryo. All you had to do to swell the ranks of
these rebels was to cut a: The length of your guitar solos from 15 minutes to
15 seconds, and b: Your hair.
Today, after
Acid, Glam and Punk Rock, musical rebellion has been made a lot easier — the
pathway has already been cleared.
Bauhaus are
coming to the end of that pathway and are in that uncomfortable niche between
cult acclaim and social acceptance.
The reason
for Bauhaus being in this position is the stark, dark doom music they play.
Music that is unbending, in as far as conforming to the Rock norm goes, and
unnerving as far as listening to them goes.
I met Bauhaus
backstage at Riverside Studios in London, where they were preparing for a final
rehearsal before the first take of their appearance on a British television
Rock program called The Old Grey Whistle
Test.
They greeted myself
and photographer Paul with a friendly "You're late" — it was good to
set off on the right foot.
Question:
Are Bauhaus
non-musician musicians?
Dave Jay:
"To a
point yeah, in the unorthodoxy of our approach. We don't approach things from a
musiciany point of view. We find that we approach things from a lateral point
of view. We like to maintain an element of spontaneity in our work. I mean who
needs set formats?"
Question:
Don't you
think that you're working to a set formula by playing what is ultimately Rock
music anyway?
Dave Jay:
“We’re doing
something that's different within the realms of 'Rock music'."
Question:
So why did you
choose Rock music as your medium?
Answer:
"Because
it was a natural thing for us to do. When we were kids it was the thing that
was uppermost as a stimulating form of expression, it was coming at you in
every form and couldn't be ignored."
Question:
So what
inspired you to start playing as an individual?
Answer:
"I was
fascinated by the Reggae import records in 1970 and I just wanted to work out
what was going on there because it seemed like some sort of alchemy and it
really knocked me sideways. In a way I regret finding out what was going on because
it seemed more magical when I didn't have any idea. I really wanted to play
bass as it was the predominant instrument in Reggae so I started playing on the
bass notes of an old acoustic six string, and as soon as I could afford it I
bought a cheap Fender copy bass and I used to play along to the radio records,
you know, anything."
Question:
How did
Bauhaus actually form? Was it through a desire to play the sort of music that
you play, or to satisfy a deep affinity you all have for each other?
Answer:
"Well
Kevin (Haskins, drums) had been in the seminal Northampton Punk outfit, the
Submerged Tenth, who played a total of three gigs, all of which are now
legendary in Northampton and are talked about in a hushed breath. The guitarist
left and Danny (Ash) joined, but we never actually gigged then. Danny wrote
some stuff with Peter whom he'd known since school and they pressganged Kevin
into drumming for them, and then got a bass player who didn't fit so they
contacted me and asked me to play with them at their next gig. I said, 'Fine,
when's the next gig?' and they said, 'Tomorrow night'. So I had to learn the
complete set in one night, which resulted in us playing Raw Power four times in
one night, merely through lack of material."
Question:
All pretty run
of the mill stuff. The post Punk idea is now a hackneyed answer that you can
expect from the vast majority of bands. This cliché seems slightly incongruous
to the radically unique noise that Bauhaus make, as does their history of cover
versions ranging from the recent Ziggy
Stardust to the earlier attempts at Marc Bolan's Telegram Sam and Lou Reed's Waiting
For The Man.
Why, if the
band are trying to get away from the big Rock'n'Roll cliche ( which is so
boring), do they persist in paying homage to the people who started the whole
thing?
Answer:
"It isn't a tribute really, it's just that we
felt like playing them at the time and offer an interpretation of them".
Question:
The version
of Ziggy Stardust is very strict to
the original.
Answer:
“Well we just
did that because we wanted to do it. We had never intended recording it or
anything like that. It was just that it was so popular and we've been kicking away
at this door that opens up to new horizons for so long, we've put out eight
singles most of which could, and should, have been in the charts."
Question:
Why weren't
they?
Answer:
"Because
we've never been exposed to the mass populous and we're just starting to get
out of that underground ghetto that contained us for so long. The Ziggy single is, in fact, a double A
side with Third Uncle and we thought
that it would really give that door a good kicking, and once we're there you
see we can poison the minds of the nation's youth".
Question:
What do you
want to poison their minds with?
Answer:
"You have
to wait and find out".
On that note
I turned my condenser mike towards drummer Kevin Haskins.
Question:
When
did you start playing?
Kevin Haskins:
"Oh a
long time ago, about seven years ago. I just wanted to drum. It never entered
my mind whether I'd play in a band or not. So I had drum lessons for about a
year from a guy who plays in a dance band and he'd teach me Bossanova type
things and then say 'This is a Pop tune'. I actually used the Bossanova thing
on our first single Bela Lugosi's Dead.
Mostly I just picked things up from playing along with records.
Question:
How did the
Bauhaus sound come together?
Dave:
"It was
just natural evolution, it wasn't premeditated or anything like that. Maybe subconsciously
we knew the sound we wanted, but it was never calculated."
Question:
Was it
calculated in as much as you wanted to sound different?
Answer:
"Well there'd be no point in doing it if
we weren't going to sound different. It was more of an attitude at the time
than the sound, I mean that was almost secondary."
Question:
What is this
attitude?
Answer:
"It's a
hard attitude, an attitude of confrontation ..."
Question:
Do you think
that there's still a need for that sort of attitude?
Answer:
"Oh yeah,
more now than ever. Things are getting so soft and stupid. The records that
come out these days are just a load of old garbage. It's a shame that Punk
didn't infiltrate more so than it did".
This was a
real 'my sentiments entirely' situation and I was sitting there like a nodding
dog without a car window to look out of. But a good wholesome IM&RW
journalist isn't meant to agree with unsavoury anti Rockist rebels such as
Bauhaus so I got back to the reason for IM
and asked Dave what gear he used to produce his
inimitable bass sound.
Dave:
"Oh I
knew we'd get around to this," he said delighting in the fact that he wasn't
going to answer my question, "Er mainly black suits and black
shirts".
Question:
Yeah, are the
dark glasses important to the sound?
Answer:
"No they
just help me to see".
Question:
How about the
shoe laces, which type do Bauhaus favor to produce the sounds we all know and
love?
Answer:
"Well
predominantly black; the thinner the better".
Question:
Is that
conducive to the bass sound you want?
Dave:
"No
they're just conducive to walking in a straight line without your shoes falling
off".
I didn't have
the heart to tell Dave that Haircut 100 had pulled exactly the same stunt when
we'd interviewed them. Anyway he was laughing so much he probably wouldn't have
heard.
Question:
If at first
you don't succeed ... Kevin what kit do you use?
Kevin:
"(Laughs)
I can't think of a clever answer... I use a Ludwig drum kit".
Question:
How many drums
do you have?
Kevin:
"Five or
six...do I get to do a drum review now and keep all the drums?"
Question:
Do you as a
band feel that if you want to get your message across you need to be
technically competent?
Dave:
"Yeah
competent enough to express your ideas. But I think that there's a danger of
surpassing that — we don't want to get too good, too proficient".
Question:
Would that
limit you?
Dave:
"It would
be limiting in that it can remove the raw immediacy of the music".
Kevin:
"I think
if I knew too much I'd be trying to use that knowledge too much — it would take
a lot of discipline. I think things can get cluttered up.
"I see
space as just important as filled space."
Getting onto
more general issues.
Question:
Do you resent
being a CULT band?
Dave:
"We don't
resent being a cult band, but we resent not being a chart featured group and
being disgustingly rich. We want to be in the position whereby we can do whatever
we want and it's received on a very wide scale rather than just.”
Bauhaus
Peter Murphy: vocals
Daniel Ash: guitar, saxophone
Dave J (David J): bass
Kevin Haskins: drums
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[ ανάρτηση 1 Φεβρουαρίου 2024 :
Bauhaus band
“ The Art of
Bauhaus ”
Interview
International
Musician magazine July 1983
ΜΟΥΣΙΚΗ ]
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