Testify claims to be an up-and-coming band, an evolutive band which refuses to be included in an industrial movement too fond of crude bpm. Do you think you managed well with it till now?
I think we have managed well with what we have created till now. We had some visions before starting the work on the new album; I may say that the album reflects these visions, even surpasses my expectations. We wanted more thickness, more deepness, more atmosphere (without becoming soft-homos like TFS), more mid-tempo ¾sthetic and so on. We did it all, and quite well I think.
Don't you think that too many changes in the line-up of a band like yours could hamper its evolution?
I don't know, let's see. As I have worked for ten years with the same line-up within The Fair Sex, I will have now the opposite experience. In fact the line-up of Testify is changing quite fast. But I doubt that it will go on like this. I think we will have a line-up very soon, that may stay together for some while.
Did fans of The Fair Sex follow your experience within Testify?
Aren't those two bands too different? It's like always, since people are individual (even TFS fans): it differs. Some say "Wow! That's more like the old TFS! Aggressive and dark! It's better than TFS nowadays!" For others it has become too extreme. These are for the most part the older, riper sort of TFS fans.
Being remixed by 'celebrities' like Keith 'Fluffy' Auerbach and H. Beno is a way to have a good self promotion at little cost. Isn't it? Or is it a real musical need?
How do you know that we thankfully received the remixes of Fluffy and H.Beno at little cost? Since they really are celebrities you should expect us to pay millions of dollars to have their famous names connected with Testify!! But luckily they really did it all for peanuts and I'm really thankful. For me the Spoil remix on the Ballroomkiller EP is one of Testify's absolute highlights. I don't know for which reason this co-operation was planned, probably marketing-ideas, you're right. But I will not live without the Spoil remix anymore. It's a musical need for me to have this.
Which was the real contribution of Skrew to the production of Mmyaoooo? Did they rise Testify to a determinedly more metal sound? Adam Grossman, chief-inspector of Skrew, was over here in Germany for three weeks, during the main-phase of recording Mmyaoooo. Then he drove us to maximum creativity with his whips. He had a great input into the whole thing. Probably he even strenghtened the course that the new Testify material itself already took: going a bit into metal direction.
You seem to grant a big importance to lyrics. You avoid messages and favour a verbal aesthetic drawn from literature. Is it a good way to give more consistency to the band or just to be different from the others?
There is no masterplan behind the way and style of the lyrics. It's always the same with me: some words arise without myself doing anything. They belong to the titles. I have to put them together and find semantic links, so that they make any sense. In the end you'll get something like Pink Goblin and wonder what it's all about... On the other hand, often enough, I should say, there is something like a message. The old Anger-I-hate-this-fucking-world-message, one of my favorite themes. But even lyrics treating this subject arise like I described it, sudden intuitions, or what.
How is the band organized along hierachical lines? Considering that Raskal and Myk formed Testify, do they have a power of veto on every decisions concerning the collectif? We are a democrative band and everyone has a vote. But the votes of some, of course, are more important than those of others (I sometimes say this. It's a quotation of Jagger, said in 78 I think. It's an answer full of humour, or ?).
Would it be indiscreet to ask how the royalties are distributed to members of a band like Testify which seems to be inclined to quite frequent changes of the line-up. All equals in front of the god named Dollars?
We will work out a decent and fair plan I think, if there will be any money to share amongst old and good friends, harr.
You seem to turn your attention to the melodic appearance of your songs, which does not really characterize industrial bands. Is that reminiscence of your experience within The Fair Sex?
Strangely enough you seem to be the first to discover this (with the exception of myself and Moses; we have discovered it some months back). Since Testify is not that famous and not too many people use to listen to our records, this might not be very amazing. But nevertheless 'Testify has become even harder' is a statement you hear more often concerning this Mmyaoooo album, but I hope we have not become too melodic?!? Is it already a soft pop album? Probably we have to correct this. Testify was planned to be some sort of holidays from the melodic boredom of The Fair Sex. We should keep this up!
You are shivering. Being interviewed by Under The Flag makes you happy?
I am frightened about your magical abilities, for I am shivering. Indeed you had some uncomfortable questions, but nevertheless good questions. Thank you very much!
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