Ionic Vision - Modern EBM begins where 'That Total Age' stops

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13 Nov, 2008

Ionic Vision - Modern EBM begins where 'That Total Age' stops
Ionic Vision is probably one of the less recognized bands in their homeland Belgium! Why? They're active for 16 years now, having released an impressive discography, back in time being signed on Celtic Circle Productions (which was one of the leading labels), world-wide considered as a leading formation of the EBM-movement, being remixed by famous artists like David Carretta, The Horrorist, Terence Fixxmer and even Thomas P. Heckman, appearing on setlists of the famous Dave Clarck while their latest album "Bitter Isolation" appeared for several weeks in the famous Deutsch Alternative Charts (D.A.C)! When resuming and considering all these facts we can only, but agree they definitely deserve more recognition. The facts are impressive! So I decided to contact the 'Ionic' headquarters to get a better idea and 'Vision' about the band! Sven, Andy and Louis are real nice guys who can keep on talking about EBM for hours! Did I say EBM? That's for sure a delicate point because what' is EBM all about? What's the link between EBM and Ionic Vision? Are there into EBM or do we have to call it old-school EBM? Some fans already commented the review of the "Bitter Isolation"-cd by claiming that they're EBM and nothing else! Ionic Vision now claimed to compose hard core EBM? Aghhh who cares about terminology and/or definition? Ionic Vision always composed music in the line of pioneers like Nitzer Ebb, Die Krupps, DAF, Pouppée Fabrikk and like they seem to claim: 'Modern EBM begins where "That Total Age" stops. (By Elise Din)

SL. After 16 years of Ionic Vision, how do you feel when holding this new album "Bitter Isolation" in your hands?

Louis. Let me kick off the answering by saying I'm just the nasty guy behind the scenes - nagging about crappy arrangements and ugly howling.... Just kidding! I've been working with the 'Ionic Boys' for 12 years - and now, after having worked together with them for such a long time, "Bitter Isolation" became a kind of 'concentrate' of all what we've been doing together. It definitely IS a kind of mile-stone!

Andy. It's indeed an amazing feeling that we managed to get this far by our own efforts and hard labour. We reached this point without the true aid of a record label or manager, so yeah, very proud indeed. "Bitter Isolation" is a product of us three, no doubt.

Sven. I have never been as proud as now, 16 years after we founded Ionic Vision, proud to still be around and being a part of the major EBM scene. Proud that we remained faithful to our roots and we never gave in to all those lame dickheads who always took a piss on us�..yeah, a mighty good feeling and same goes for the album, mighty good album, and not to forget, the EP's and 12inches�.

SL. What have been the main sources of inspiration for this new full length?

Andy. The inspiration lies in the moment itself where we find fitting lyrics to a bass line or vice versa. We never start from 'let's make a song about theme x'. It just doesn't work like that. It's more a sound or even a simple phrase that sets the wheels in motion. I remember for "She Is" that Sven had a vague idea coming from an item on the news. Maybe there were others as well. If so, too small to mention.

Sven. I fit in with this answer as I feel we indeed don't have any particular sources, we let it all happen in the creative process, what's going on outside always has an effect on what you write, no?

SL. How did the writing of this album happen and in which way did the presence of Louis Zachert (the newest member) became more important than before?

Sven. Exactly the same way we always write songs. We seek for nice sounds, nice sequences (EBM is tooled on good bass lines). We call this arrangements and we had about 50 to choose from for this album. Next we started to pour them into a song (with smaller vocal parts over it) and start the search for more or better layered sounds. In the final phase we do a pre-mastering where all the effects pop in�.and than Louis boosts the songs and vocals up and finally masters the complete thing. Louis never gets involved in making the songs, that is something Andy and I do�

Andy. �but Louis is more present in the final approach and of course his experience in art and strategy matters�.

Louis. �maybe it's me who make Sven's voice sound that BAAAAAAD...... (laughs)

SL. So what's the real input of Louis Zachert and what have been the new elements he brought to your production?

Sven & Andy. We bow deeply and let the master speak for himself:

Louis. Oops! As Sven and Andy say - it's probably me - the guy who now creates that specific 'Ionic Vision' sound. But to be honest - we've always been working together. My very personal approach to Ionic Vision's sound is to make it as 'pure' and 'real' as possible. Without making any compromises. That is - I try to limit myself on not to actually 'play' with new sound gadgets and toys, but to limit myself to really 'catch' the 'Ionic Vision' sound and atmosphere.

SL. Talking about Louis Zachert, we knew him from the Cycloon project while he now has just released an album for Black Wedding. This album "11000 Virgins" has been released on Machineries Of Joy and that's a bit of a surprise as his music is totally different of the old-school EBM-style! What can you say about this project and this release?

Louis. To be honest: "Black Wedding" is my baby! The one I always had in my mind... maybe not always, but at least for the last couple of years. I've been working on it for about five years; now it was 'given birth'. My musical background is different to Ionic Vision's, but - it's all about 'MUSIC' - and 'MUSIC' is just pure emotion - so in my opinion it doesn't make much of a difference if it's old-school 'muscle-and-hate'-EBM or the more laid-back stuff I do with "Black Wedding". It's just the emotion which counts! Ok - I know that "11000 Virgins" might not really fit into the MoJ track, but there are a number of reasons to release it with 'our' little record label. It's a part of the MoJ family. And this family is not limited to just releasing 'pure' old-school EBM stuff. But.... wait and see! "11000 Virgins" does a good job - just check out the album reviews. So - it also can give some feedback to the overall work of MoJ. On va voir...

Andy. And we are proud to have it released on Machineries Of joy. It's a true gem.

Louis. Thanks! It's my pleasure!

SL. How's your label doing and how did you exactly manage items like promotion, distribution as you are a subdivision of COP International?

Sven. As for MOJ, this is more something like a platform where we have full freedom in what to do and how to grow, leaving all up to us taking decisions (be it artistically and/or financially) But, we do have an enormous amount of respect for Christian Petke, head of Cop Intl. He is one of those very, very rare and honest people in the music business, so we make not one single move without asking his opinion and/or advice. This way of working creates mutual respect, giving us more and more carte blanche in attracting other bands. We don't just pick up bands just for the sake of 'being important' or we have to act like a true (and greedy) label, no we always carefully follow up interesting bands!

Andy. And the promotion we do completely ourselves, meaning sending promo-items to DJ's, magazines and fan sites. We also arrange our own gigs in co-operation with others. Thanks to the friendship between Louis and Christian from COP we were given the chance to use their distribution channels for all MOJ-releases, be it on CD or via i-Tunes. We have re-released our back-catalogue on i-Tunes, by the way. We might not have chosen to do so, if it wasn't for the constant requests we received.

Louis. I would even like to take a step further: In the past, it was always a definite MUST to send out promotion CDs to as many DJs as possible, to do a lot of 'blabla' with them - in order to get recognized by the 'people out there'. That has changed. Completely. A 'German Alternative Charts' entry does NOT have any influence about the actual sales of a CD. In contrary: sending out CDs has a certain impact on music piracy. "Bitter Isolation" made its appearance on a Russian pirate website shortly after the promos were sent out. In my - I must admit: very personal - experience, the most important things to promote your music are: live gigs, getting promoted on as many as possible internet radio stations, contact web based media, and� last, but not least� become 'visible' to your audience�.

SL. I also heard about the singing of a young Belgian band (cf. Darkmen) on your label! What can we expect here and are there some other releases in the pipeline?

Andy. We followed Proceed back then. We witnessed how they made progress and the prove is there. They were picked up by Spetsnaz and little later by Out Of Line. Since a few years we did follow the Belgian EBM band Darkmen. They made good progress. So good in fact that Sven did produce their debut album "Guilty By Association (MEN002)" which will come out soon on Machineries Of Joy (preceded by the "Guilty" EP (MEN001) with darn fine remixes). We do have other bands in sight, but we seek 100% dedication. Bands to whom you send mails and don't get anything back from, or something in that vain, we don't care anymore. Anno 2008 'communication' is a key-word in everything, even in music.

Sven. We do have our eyes out for other bands. Next we asked them to remix us and the way they handle this often says something about their feeling and their enthusiasm. A remix can be a ticket towards a closer collaboration.

Louis. �so how about a Darkmen remix for Black Wedding? (grins) They're really nice guys making good music!

Sven. They are expensive Louis! (all burst into laughter)

SL. Back to the new album, how would you define and analyze this album in comparison with your previous work?

Sven. For me it always has been clear, "Rage Against The Acoustic" (ION002) was our EBM pop album where "NeuMaschinen" (ION006) was the more sleazy EBM album. It was as dirty produced as you can imagine. "Actual" (ION009) was our ambitious high-tech EBM project (first time we only used computer) and "Bitter Isolation" (ION011) is the album that holds all good from these three former albums.

Louis & Andy. We fully agree on that statement!

SL. I often experience your lyrics as being quite fragmentary; you don't need much words and elaborated sentences to achieve the text of a song! It all looks straight ahead, just like your music, but in which way is it intentional?

Andy. The only intention we have is to make hard EBM by not going overboard in effects and text or whatever. Less is more and that goes for all concepts.

Sven. Less is more, indeed, I would like to add we make music where people who listen to it, won't sit down and check the precise content of it. It needs to be hard, harsh, aggressive�.but still, we still take time in taking a message, better yet, our message to the listener while still fitting in the EBM concept. I think songs like "Sleep" or "In the news" are good examples.

Louis. For me, every single Ionic Vision release is a completely new challenge. During the last couple of years, I always tried to reduce the amount of effects used for a production. And- the more you try to reduce, the tougher it gets to achieve a really good result. 'Reduce to the max'. That's what it's all about. "Bitter Isolation" is a really good example. I'm proud of it! Yeppp!

SL. But what do the main themes of your lyrics say about your own life, experiences, frights�?

Andy. I can only say 'not much', really. We only get triggered by things that we see or hear. We have an idea for a song due to a special sound, like "Insects" for instance. We only by accident came across this nauseating sound of moskitos, or whatever it sounds like, and then we were trying to figure out how someone would feel while being surrounded by millions of creepy bugs etc. So it's not that either of us have arachnophobia or anything like that. All our songs kind of happen.

Sven. A kind of experimental modus?

Louis. There's nothing to add, isn't it?

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SL. The EP "Sweet Isolation" preceded this new album! How come you guys seem to really love EP's?

Sven. For me, this is another proof that EBM and in particular Ionic Vision is more than making an EBM album and end of story. We carefully select remixers ourselves, ensuring not to have some 'boring but just for the sake of sounding important names' on our EP's, so they become worthwhile buying for sure. We make hard core EBM, but we still show that this music has different sides.

Andy. EBM is indeed already such a small scene and I feel it has too many short sighted people�

Sven. �not to speak about the critics�

Andy. �but we intentionally tend to brake this stubborn attitude by getting other views and feels of EBM. And so far, we have not been disappointed at all. It even opened some doors as well. So, even out of artistic intent we get more than we bargained for. And of course, club remixes with names like David Carretta and Oliver Chesler (aka The Horrorist) are begging to be pressed onto that pure sexy black vinyl�

Louis. All you have to be is just: stay open-minded!

Sven. Which hard-core EBM band does such things these days? None, I reckon! Since mid nineties not many or even none tried to escape the EBM tag. We make it, we are proud making it and we dare to stand up and we will keep on expanding it until the end!

Louis. ! I'd even like to have a kind of oompah-music thingy on one of Ionic Vision's releases... (laughs) Hey: It's all about that simple thing called "music"!

SL. This EP has been announced as a featuring with Orange Sector, but what has been the real input of Orange Sector here?

Sven. Well, we made "Die Macht" and we thought 'cool, Martin's vocals would fit neatly', so after checking with them they wrote the German lyrics, sent them to us and we mixed them into the song. Next, Orange Sector made two splendid remixes for us, their interpretation of the track let's say. And now the new "Untertage"-EP from Orange Sector features "Die Macht" in their own version, and we on our side are featured. We created a track, and used it on our personal releases, and Martin and Lars are two real nice guys!

Andy. In a way it's like Die Krupps once did with Nitzer Ebb, but in this case Orange Sector had a bit more input in the matter.

SL. This EP features remixes from famous artists like David Carretta and Oliver Chesler aka The Horrorist! How did you get in touch with them and how does it sound to be remixed by such famous musicians?

Sven. It would have been easy but very narrow minded for us to search for bands in the EBM genre to do a remix. We would end up with a handful of good and reliable bands, but it would be a one time chance, because the next EP or 12inch the choice would end up with exactly the same bands.

Andy. It would also be pointless to have remixes sounding almost exactly like the original or to be in the same genre.

Louis. The so-called 'techno scene' and the old-school EBM scene have much more in common than the more 'modern' EBM scene. I just love the more minimalistic approach to music! And Oliver C. is just one of the very best representatives to combine those two worlds!

Sven. Correct, so, we did dig more or less in a genre which we like for some time, a genre that combines the aggressive bass sounds of EBM with a doses of nice dance beats. With this album we decided to put the cherry on the Ionic pie and show the world that Ionic Vision in its full isolation dares to stand up and play along with some of the bigger ones.

Andy. I myself love to have, not only interesting versions of a song but also other views and hooks. We got in touch with each and everyone of them personally. That's the best way to handle this and you get more in return. I'm sure that we will work more with Oliver Chesler, whom we respect deeply, both as artist and as person.

SL. You've been in the past remixed by some other great names like Terrence Fixmer and Thomas P. Heckman. I think numerous bands can only dream to get in touch with such famous artists while it seems so easy for Ionic Vision! How comes and how do you experience their own music and style?

Sven. Ionic Vision always did dare to expand the EBM genre we were pushed in and it indeed started with the release of "MaschinenAngst" (ION005). We kept stretching these borders when we invited Terence Fixmer and Thomas P. Heckmann doing remix jobs for us ("In Between" (ION007)). That 12inch sold 1000 copies in one day and you can be sure it wasn't only to true EBM fans. All this proves two things to me in person:

Ionic Vision is a well respected band, clearly far more respected by artists than press because indeed most of the artists do know us and highly appreciate what we do, else they wouldn't have worked with us.
We show there is more to discover than the 4/4 beat and bass line with shouting, there is more Ionic Vision, but unfortunately too many believe EBM is one and all the same pulp. But we darn proved we took the right decision, because even top DJ's like Dave Clarke (who remixed Depeche Mode) spin our remixes.

Andy. Maybe it looks easy, but we show respect to the people who we work with and this proves to be not always the case with others. We never take anything they do for granted. Mutual respect is where it all starts. If that's not there, don't bother at all!

SL. You've just released a 12" on Things To Come Records, which is the label of Oliver Chesler (The Horrorist) himself. I guess another kind of audience and music lovers will be reached here, but what are the expectations and how did it came to release this vinyl?

Andy. We never had any expectations to begin with. Oliver gave us the chance to do this vinyl release as he loved all the remixes a lot. So, we trusted his feeling and experience and we were not disappointed. Oliver is currently working on a new album and I'm sure we can repay him back soon by doing a remix for him. Of course we knew that we would reach other people than the small niche of EBM, but that was kind of our aim to start with, despite the vinyl.

SL. What can you say about the content of the US-version of "Sweet Isolation", which seems to contain different remixes? It seems to be typically Ionic Vision-like to release different versions isn't it?

Sven. Oh, it does not only contain different remixes, but complete different artwork and such�.check closer! I guess we have said this before numerous times and we tried to prove it so many times before, we do indeed like to differ. It just needs to get into the people's mind that we are different than any regular 4/4 EBM band making one album every year.

Andy. We take care of every concept and release. On top of that we want to give the buyers more than they bargained for. We don't want to come over cheap or give the impression that we only do this for extra money. Because, trust me on this one, it's not the right genre to make money at all. We do this because we love doing it, the main reason why we are still around after 16 years, many others would have given up a long time ago!

Louis. If you really want to make "real" money out of it.... make "oompah music"... Hey, Sven, grab your accordion!

SL. After all these years, what have been the main high lights and best memories in the career of Ionic Vision and what have been the worst ones?

Sven. Main thing is we stayed together, we showed all who we really are and still can be proud of it, of all the top EBM bands existing we nearly worked or got in touch for some reason with all of them, so we are in a certain way, at the top ourselves. We still do this as a hobby, for fun that is, so we worked darn hard to achieve all this! Worst still remains that isolated feeling, sad we are too much finger pointed "that bunch of Belgians with their stupid narrow minded music"

Andy. Personal high lights : to meet and talk to interesting people over the years or chat with top-people like David Carretta, Terence Fixmer or even The Hacker and Dave Clarke with whom we have been negotiating too. Sadly they had no time to remix us, but we won't stop trying.

Louis. My very personal highlight was to 'find' the Ionic guys again after having moved to Belgium. Secondly, every single moment I can spend with them is also a highlight! In the studio - and when they're performing live...

SL. You guys started when you were all very young while 16 years later I can imagine you both have a family, maybe kids, but your music sounds still the same! That's rather unusual�even Nitzer Ebb evolved in sound! How comes?

Sven. It took long not to start about Nitzer Ebb�.

Louis. Ouch! That hurts! "Sounds still the same"! It definitely does NOT! No way! Nearly everything has changed - with the exception of the people behind it. Just listen to "Rage Against The Acoustic" in comparison to "Bitter Isolation". There are whole UNIVERSES between these two. If the first showed the more - please excuse me, Sven and Andy - 'amateurish' - and sometimes 'I just love to play with effects' approach, the current album reflects in every single aspect a really MATURE and GROWN-UP side of Ionic Vision's sound. No compromises. Just pure EBM. Pure. Raw. Un-filtered. Nothing to add!

Sven. I agree with Louis, and don't want to be offensive but if you say our music still sounds the same, you clearly have not been listening to it, full stop. Prejudices like that are precisely why we were always put in isolation, EBM is EBM and that will always remain the same. Compare it with reggae, when you don't know anything about it, reggae is reduced to being 'Bob Marley', same here I guess! Ok, it is true we are deeply inspired by hard core driven sequences and angry vocals like on Nitzer Ebb's first album "That Total Age" (and partly some of the anger which can be found on "Belief"), but it simply stops there! There is so much more to EBM than just that one album. We like all further albums by Nitzer Ebb, but none can be compared with Ionic Vision, right? Name us one Ionic Vision track that sounds like "I give to you" or "My heart"? And name us one Nitzer Ebb song that sounds like Ionic Vision's "L'usine or "She Is". Ionic Vision does have it's own ingredients, own style and a personal way of creating sound layers or song structures?

Andy. Of course we evolved in things like production, sounds and layers, effects, lyrics and the way they can be used in song, art,... It's like Sven says : to me all rock sounds like rock and all R'n'B sound crappy, no matter how they might evolve.

Sven. True, we don't mind putting new elements into old school EBM, with every release you grow and experiment more with sounds and equipment, so we do have a different sort of feel on each album. We never ever re-use sounds from a former album (and believe me there are several bands where you can clearly hear they do). We always have enough experimental parts in our music, parts that remain true to the roots but where you can discover a nice step just outside the small borders of EBM, if only a listener would be prepared to drop the short minded association tags and have the guts to discover this. True that the main thing we care to take in consideration is that after all it's EBM. Our idea is that it's no use making one EBM album and than slowly slide into a more synth-pop or acoustic direction under the same name, fans will get disappointed there. Stick to your guns, but once in a while try to reload and re-invent or you go down. Why do you think Nitzer Ebb returns with a style close to their roots? Because their last so called 'evolved in sound' album ''Big Hit'' was such a success?! I believe that modern EBM begins where "That Total Age" stops. By this I mean "That Total Age" was a true milestone. It did set a good base for all further EBM and the album still stand after 20 years, but is not the holy bible or the cornerstone of EBM, neither is Nitzer Ebb�and coming back to Ionic Vision's latest 'none evolved in sound album for 16 years' "Bitter Isolation", it did stay in the DAC top 10 for weeks, why is that?!

SL. And what do you guys expect from the new Nitzer Ebb-album?

Sven. Not much, we'll hear about it when it comes out right? Maybe they copy one of Ionic Vision's albums, what a disgrace that would be for the world! And what to write then? Hahahahaha, nice thought�.let us all grab a beer, drink till the break of dawn and notice the outside world has died�.damn, lyrics�anyone got a pencil dudes�.

Andy : Let's indeed not expect too much, then we won't be too disappointed. I already listened to the remix they gave to the "Saw"-soundtrack and I didn't like it. Of course it was a remix. So far they don't even have a record label, so maybe it will never even be on CD. Maybe it's too much like before and no-one cares anymore. They have a tough time ahead of them, I'm sure.

Sven. Referring to what I just said, if they make another album like "Big Hit", they will ruin their status forever, if they make another "That Total Age", EBM fans will love it, but I wonder if critics will go bashing in on them stating their new album is another "That Total Age" copy�..same shit, different day I guess�or short minded critics maybe�.difficult one�

SL. I guess you always remain faithful to Ionic Vision; I mean you've been never involved in side-projects! Is there any particular reason to this?

Louis. Euuh... You know that my 'baby' is Black Wedding. If Ionic Vision is for the 'fun part' (in every single aspect), then Black Wedding reflects my more 'musical side'. Here, I can play other stuff - even hollow-bodied string things (I can hear Sven saying: Uuuuh! Noooo!) and even ACOUSTIC percussion stuff! (Sven & Andy. even worse!!!!) And: I can work with people who can actually read sheet music! (Andy & Sven. What? Sh*t music? What's that?) But - on the other side - Ionic Vision was, is, and will always remain my very special 'musical toy' - the big carpet I can fool around!

Andy : We are indeed all hard working people with kids or families and hobbies. It already takes us too long to make a concept around an album with remixes and EP's, let alone make anything else. I guess when making a remix for someone like Luziphix you can go a bit in another direction, but that's as far as it goes, really. The EBM-feeling will always be present. And it's where we feel at home.

SL. Do you guys still have a kind of ultimate dream for the coming years?

Andy. Happiness in perfect health is more than we can wish for. The rest is just bonus

Sven. Could not wish for more than that indeed Andy, thanks for the interview, it was a very nice one for sure!

Louis. Agreed!

Band: www.dsbp.cx/ionic / www.myspace.com/ionicvision
Label: www.myspace.com/copint / www.copint.com/moj

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