Neuro Style #1, 1997

What inspires you, when you start working on new album, where comes these pathetic tunes in a combination to the lifeless and released mood from?
The Inspiration comes directly from my life. All songs, that is verses and music are dictated me by my life, which is, unfortunately, not only boring, but also from time to time simply terrible! The same thing with Emilia. Therefore our source of inspiration and impressions is eternal and god damn inexhaustible!

You are not so prolific in comparison with other bands. What is a reason?
I do not like to be engaged with it. It is much better to do what my soul requires. You don't think so? KIRLIAN CAMERA is really open and free collective, and our listeners know: one song that comes from directly from heart is better than whole album of idiot things. Certainly, many labels prefer to have more albums for sale, but we not. Some albums released in 1993-1994 years by Discordia, actually consist of the unpublished material. For example, CD "Erinnerung", small album which has preceded to the double CD "Solaris - The Last Corridor" which was out in the begining of 1995. As you can see, we do not rest. Yes, "Solaris"... The album, which was written in a state of a deep and continuous stress. Again, sometimes duration of our presence in studio was just few minutes, and "Solaris" became continuous dreadful dream because our state was hard to be shaped out - we needed to do long time delays only in order to wait continuation. Each operation is a variety of an awful and unfavourable introspection. Unfortunately.

What is your favourite song from your repertoir?
An interesting question... Maybe "Heldenplatz". I'd like to speak about my favourite themes, which were found their reflection in songs - love, despair and decline. "Heldenplatz", composed by me in 1984 and recorded back in 1986/87, interprets these themes well and sounds in my head till now. Or song "Fur Immer" (from an album "Solaris")... In general, I like many our songs, especially of last period (since 1991 till the present time).

Lets speak about "Solaris", which you just have mentioned. What you would like to express by this album? What differs it from previous?
We worked on it from 1991 to summer 1995. The first pressing was made on double CD: the first disk was the album self, and second contains bonustracks, not easy for listening: minimalistic, morbid, cold, without any hope for a light at the end of the tunnel. The final track "Life Functions Critical", ultra-minimalistic composition written in 1992/93... It was time of a heyday of radical thoughts, and many modern artists defending unnaturality still keep going this way. The main part of album is also difficult, it seems that it is far from entertainment music: I see the grey landscape in an atmosphere of a hallucination occupied by ghosts... Sometimes music is dissolved in silence - but it isn't mystical silence! The feeling of fear and powerlessness. As usual, some songs related with romanticism and decadance, but behind all you can feel the hidden pain, as an inner wound inside an organism. "Solaris" was for me the final border, it was written in the worst period of my life, and these moments are still living in my consciousness. I consider "Solaris" as our most important release, it opens the most dark sides of our minds. I do not know, whether it was pleasant to the listeners, but it would be desirable to hope.

How you evaluate an album Ordo Ecclesiae Mortis from positions of todays?
- Ordo Ecclesiae Mortis - under this name we worked in 1984-1988. In that time we had contract with Virgin Records, large American company, which wanted Kirlian Camera to be “their" pop-music oriented band, as, for example, Roxy Music. To be sincere, from the former days our band played pop songs, but I already then would like to write other, more serious music. In Italy there was no people who was interested in releasing our records, and we hadn't our own label. Today it became possible with the help from Discordia, and I am very much pleasant to this, because in spite of the fact that music O.E.M. for past ten years is slightly obsolete, it is still interesting to me. These songs, mixture of 80’s electro-music, guitars, dark and epic motives, were very unusual at that time.

Kirlian Camera is more studio-oriented group?
Many years we really were only studio group, and now, in middle 90, we discover for ourselves advantage of live appearances. I do not like concerts — this is unusual and really hard for me, but our audience gives me forces for continuation. On the contrary, Emilia finds live gigs very pleasant and funny. So today we equally both studio and concert group. By the way, our Germany concert tour of 1994 enabled the listeners to estimate our live possibilities - a part of the program has been released on CD "Elysian Fields".

And what purpose you have with this tour?
Most remarkable was that we have got acquainted with our admirers and have met many our friends. At concerts we would like to create an atmosphere of conflict of life and death, to show, that there is no return. Death, only death... Eternal and infinite. A sincere pain - our essential, we did not care of anything. A picture of death that's only we wanted to show, reason and consequence of all sufferings of the people doomed by life on an excruciating. We hate life! We hate sunlight and rain! We hate any manifestation of a light or darkness, ours only protege - the angel of death.

What the place take the literature in your life? Have you some favourite writers?
I'm not a good reader. Nevertheless, I like books by Ivan Goll, Georg Trakl and german expressionists, Thomas Mann and books about the WWII, for example little-known book "Rudolf Hess" written by the English historian Eugene T. Bird. I am interested in the literature on psychophonetics (communication with the dead). At last, I am fascinated by the recent books by Steven King, but there is something incomplete. My favourite theme in the literature is Jesus Christ and different interpretations of his entity. Also I like the mystical stories by H.P.Lovecraft. Emilia's favourite writers are Dostoevsky, Mann, Giovanni Verga, Italo Svevo and Luigi Pirandello.

Can you term the musicians who have influenced you?
In the past I listened very much music, but now not. I can say that Pink Floyd, and Kraftwerk definitely have affected me by way of musical experience. Also Swans, Suicide, Johann Brahms, Alban Berg, La Monte Young, Laibach. I like such styles as techno, tango, Celtic and Hungarian traditional music. I think such bands as Sol Invictus interprete Celtic sources very well.

Many bands use in their lyrics expressions of the philosophers and other literary borrowing to gain of more effect. Do you follows this way too?
I can't say so. Our music tells about suffering and despair. Our images are patterns of dreadful dream which is referring to life, this lost paradise. Behind our music there is definitely nothing, except tears. Probably, so.

What you think of the present state of musical scene?
At the beginning it was like the madness. So much the abnormal people you couldn't meet anywhere. I speak not about our audience, and about all these pseudo-musicians, which, with all their snobbery and pathos, nevertheless, look very funny about.

And how you regard the fact, that the majority of your audience - the admirers of the "black scene"?
I surely didn't want to say that I hate Gothic music. We have a lot of friends which fall into this musical direction. In our music we combine gothic and dark mood, and goths respect us.

Emilia Jacono is in line-up since 1990. What is changed with her arrival?
She helps me to produce albums, and sometimes doing it independently, for example, CD "Todesengel" was released only with her merit, because I wanted throw it away (maybe it would be better to do this). In 1990, when the group was ready to split, she did all to prevent it. Already for a long time she has ceased to be simply musician, I simply don't imagine our band without her. For the first time in my life I have met such sensitive and acute woman.

Why you have selected such title for band?
KIRLIAN CAMERA has appeared after I wrote six years music under different names and with the different people. When the fixed line-up at last was defined, it was necessary to pick up a new title. At first I wanted to name group Suicide Commando, but this name was unpleasant, and besides the group with such name already existed. I asked the friends to help with choice, but anybody didn't have any idea. Just in that time I had great interest in the paranormal phenomena and has focused my attention on special device invented by Semion Kirlian to make photos of an aura of the human body. So KIRLIAN CAMERA was born. I know, that this name isn't brilliant, but after many of years... it became a banner! It is our force, and we shall go furthermore. This group has gone through all those who advised me to replace a name. The cruel people...

Hella Schrader

English translation: Dmitry Vasilyev - 08.02.1997