Second Disease - We're proud of being a part of Zoth ommog's great history!

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10 Sep, 2009

Second Disease - We're proud of being a part of Zoth ommog's great history!
The German label Zoth Ommog was one of the most famous and prestigious labels from the 90s EBM scene. Some of the most famous bands got signed on Zoth Ommog and I'm sure I don't need to refresh your mind by evoking all the names. Somewhere in the shadow of those leading bands Zoth Ommog also signed a few more bands that never got the same fame although they were quite interesting as well. One of these bands was the German duo from Second Disease. When releasing their official debut-cd "Flame - The Dark Tone" in 1996 on Zoth Ommog they in a way entered in the history of the label. Zoth Ommog went down and Second Disease joined the smaller, but interesting Mascinenwelt label, which went down as well. Lars Hofmann and Ronald Kraft took some distance from their main musical project and concentrated on their daily job. But the fans of the band and Torben Schmidt (who they knew from their Zoth Ommog period) didn't forget Second Disease finally pushing them to bring the project back to life! And here it is! "While The Masses Sleep" has been just released on Infacted Recordings and brings a real interesting challenge to the contemporary and established dark EBM standards! (By Stéphane Froidcoeur)

SL: What made you decide to start composing again for Second Disease?

Ronald: Last year we showed up on myspace. This established a lot of contacts, and we received a lot of comments and requests. People also asked for new songs. So we decided to offer some new stuff.

SL: How did it feel to start back working together and did you experience some differences in the way of working/composing?

Lars: There's absolutely no difference in the way of working, we complement one another perfectly. We still have the same views and preferences.

SL: 8 years have past since the "Am I God"-album from 2001. What have you both done in the meantime and especially musical wise?

Lars: We were very busy due to our jobs, that can sometimes be quite occupying. So we needed to set other priorities.

Ronald: Of course this does not mean, that we did not make music at all. There were some nice ideas, and I also produced some songs for my project Lifeless Air.

SL: What have been the main ideas behind the new album "While The Masses Sleep" and where does the title refers to?

Ronald: Although we think that the songs go very well together, it's not a concept album with an overall deeper meaning. We just like the title and like to keep it flexible in terms of interpretation. For sure it was somehow also in our minds to play with words regarding being back on track again.

SL: What's the link between the picture on the front cover, the title and the music?

Lars: We wanted to have something you keep in mind and that catches your eye, something unique and slightly different. We honestly like the cover of "Flame The Dark True" which is really 'red' in Europe, and it's still in people's minds by recalling the color. Besides the music for sure! So the new cover needed to have something comparable.

Ronald: Going in these directions, the cover designer did a great job. The picture is one possible interpretation of the title by him. And behind the obvious interpretation there are also other ways of thinking about it. But that's up to the viewer or listener.

SL: Musical wise, what is this new album all about and how would you analyse your sound in comparison with your previous work?

Ronald: "While The Masses Sleep" is a further development of "Flame The Dark True". As said before there's no common meaning, every song stands for itself and tells its own story.

Lars: "Dogma" and "The Dogma Remixes" were more or less a collection of songs, but not really one piece of work. Like "Flame The Dark True", "While The Masses Sleep" again represents one entity.

SL: I personally perceive some strong influences from the 80s (The Klinik) and the 90s (Mortal Constraint) running through your work, but what does it really say about your sources of inspiration?

Lars: We have many sources of inspiration. Of course, these are EBM acts like Skinny Puppy or the ones you mentioned. But we listen to many kinds of music: pop/rock, synthpop, trance� When making music all these things unconsciously find a way into our songs. Mostly the final result is EBM or dark wave, because this is the best way for us to express ourselves.

SL: "While The Masses Sleep" is definitely not an average dark electro release like we often used to hear today! How would you qualify your album when compared to the current dark electro releases?

Ronald: Hmm, it's really unconventional. We do not try to follow any rules, but produce the music we like.

Lars: "While The Masses Sleep" is very complex. It's great to discover a song bit by bit, over a longer period of time. So it does not become boring after listening to it twice. Most of our songs have some kind of anticipation effect: You already remember special parts of the song when you start listening to it.

SL: What's your opinion about the current dark electro scene and are there some noticeable releases/bands you want to mention?

Lars: There are a lot of copies, but also fantastic acts like Interlace, Cryo or Neon Cage Experiment. But we're are not fixed on listening to "black" music only. We really like to discover all kinds of musical styles.

SL: Your album has been mastered by Kolja Trelle (from Soman) who is an artist belonging to the most recent generation from the dark electro scene! What do you think about the work of Soman and especially about his mastering work?

Ronald: We like Soman very much, great sounds and full of energy. Kolja also did a great job by mastering "While The Masses Sleep" . Most of the songs really gained some expression.

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SL: Did you experience some new studio equipment/programs to compose the new songs or did you remain familiar to your familiar tools and techniques? Any secret/comment to share with us here?

Ronald: There were no major changes. We bought another sampler in the meantime. 512k memory is very hard to work with, but we really loved our good old Akai S500 till the end.

SL: I really like the production of the vocals, which sound definitely different compared to the usual distortion abuse! What kind of vocals did you want for this album?

Lars: Thanks. In general we prefer to attach some melodies to the vocals. So we very seldom use extreme distortion. You can also express emotions more easily. Also there is no need for us to make our music sound harder by distorted vocals. Sometimes my girlfriend is singing: "I hear the angels choir sing, but they don't let me in ..." Honestly I'm quite surprised about that, because generally this is not her favourite music. But she likes some of the songs, and that is also due to the melodic vocals.

SL: In which do some of the lyrics reflect some personal experiences and what's the importance of the lyrics?

Lars: The most stories we tell are imaginary. There might be some personal experiences which we integrated, but only in a very estranged way. The baseline of the lyrics appears together with the music, they are simply present. That's the way it goes.

SL: Back in time your debut album "Flame - The Dark Tone" has been released on the legendary Zoth Ommog! What did you keep in mind from this debut-cd and especially the stay on Zoth Ommog?

Ronald: It was great for us to release "Flame - The Dark Tone" on Zoth Ommog. At that time e.g. Leaether Strip was also signed by them. And of course, releasing our first CD was very exciting. Unfortunately "Flame - The Dark Tone" was the only Second Disease release on Zoth Ommog.

Lars: Somehow I'm still proud of being a part of Zoth ommog's great history.

SL: When Zoth Ommog closed their doors you finally joined the smaller Maschinenwelt label, which I guess was quite a surprise and a step backwards! How did it happened and what were the main differences between both labels?

Lars: Maschinenwelt also offered us the flexibility to work and to release things in the way we preferred. That has always been a priority for us. We did not depend on money at any time. We ever had an idealistic view on the things happening around Second Disease, and we still have.

SL: Maschinenwelt finally closed their doors as well so it seems you haven't been that lucky for so far with your labels. What did you expect from Infacted Recordings?

Lars: Yes, unfortunately also Maschinenwelt disappeared.

Ronald: We hope that there's no correlation between the shut-down of labels and Second Disease. J

Lars: As already stated, basically the most important thing for us is to have this flexibility regarding our music and also other related things as live gigs.

Lars: "While The Masses Sleep" already existed as one entity when we started to talk with Infacted, and we very much wanted it to remain the way it was.

SL: How did you finally came in touch with Infacted Recordings and do you perceive some differences in label strategy between now and the past?

Ronald: Torben contacted us via myspace. Then things developed very quickly, very uncomplicated, as it was the case with Torben and Zoth Ommog in the past.

SL: Second Disease comes back alive in times of financial and economic crisis; when a lot of labels are closing their doors because of the bad sales and increasing cd-interest! What do you think about the entire situation?

Ronald: It's a pity, that important labels gave up their business. Of course, it's getting more and more difficult to sell CDs, but there are also other opportunities to distribute music. We are happy when people get to know our music, and we don't want to earn lots of money by this. If this would be our aim we would go for pure mainstream.

Lars: I mean, people have less money in their pockets for sure, but a lot of people do think that copying music for free is ok, because they are not able to go and copy groceries or clothes for free. They are simply not able to estimate the results of their acting: Small bands disappear, small labels disappear, and they have to listen to the mainstream stuff the last big labels give them to eat. To stay in the picture: It is like eating bread and drinking water all the time.

SL: You've been also active with other projects, Gods Die Later having been the most familiar one! Is there any intention here to bring this other project back to life?

Ronald: Currently not, no. We like to concentrate on Second Disease at the moment. But it's not impossible in the future.

Lars: Unfortunately "Delirium" from Gods Die Later somehow stayed away from the public, although it received some great reviews. But for us that was due to the missing promotion at that time.

SL: I was rather surprised to read that you've been also involved into a more 'techno-minded' project called X-Ray Phase! What fascinates you in the 'techno' music and what about adding some of these influence in Second Disease?

Lars: Techno is great and inspires you to move and feel good. It depends on your mood what kind of music you make or listen to. Maybe Second Disease will include some other influences in the future, but we don't know yet. We also try to remain true to our style.

SL: Are you planning to get back on stage again and what have been the plans and expectations here?

Ronald: There are no plans now. We use the little free time we have for producing new Second Disease songs. But we don't exclude live gigs at all.

SL: Are you planning to rework some older songs for the live shows?

Lars: Yes, for a concert we might also rework some songs, but as this is not an option for us right now, we concentrate more on producing and publishing new songs.

SL: What comes next for Second Disease?

Ronald: Soon the Oldschool Electrology 4CD boxset will be released by EAR, including an exclusive Second Disease song. We are also working on some remixes for other bands and will inform about that on our homepage. And, sure, we are working on new material for a next Second Disease album.

Band: www.seconddisease.de / www.myspace.com/seconddisease
Label: www.infacted-recordings.com / www.myspace.com/infacted

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