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When Blixa Bargeld of Einstrzende Neubauten looks you directly in the eye and says the word existence its kind of like when the abyss looks into you. Most of the words that the man who created industrial music says can cut right to your soul. A flippant comment from him can make you like a first grader about to be run over by a Mack truck. Hes unpredictable, dangerously sexy to all genders and believe it or not has a great sense of humor. When he talks about how this is Einstrzende Neubautens third farewell tour but this time he means it, you actually want to laugh.

Einstrzende Neubauten was Blixas first band and was started in 1980. The bands unique sounds came from a variety of percussive effects, while Bargeld provided discordant vocals and guitar, he also toured as the bass player and recorded several studio albums for Nick Cave's backing band, the Bad Seeds

Many have said that Einstrzende Neubauten wouldnt ever come back together but Blixa listens to his fans. In fact he listens so well that he decided to broadcast the crafting of their latest album live over the internet. Neubauten.org is not only a source of information for Neubauten fans but also become a direct link between the band and their public. Their latest album, Perpetuum Mobile, is not a retread of their previous works but Blixa has moved the band into the next century and created new spooky music to freak us all out.

Check out Einstrzende Neubautens official website.

Daniel Robert Epstein: The first track on the new album reminded me of Leonard Cohen. Were you going for that dreary kind of feel?

Blixa Bargeld: I certainly feel flattered if it reminds you of Leonard Cohen. I have nothing against his voice certainly. One of the best things about aging for me is that my voice ages nicely I think. So I dont want to be modest about that. Also for this record I have been sponsored by an engineer that builds microphones. He builds the best vocal microphones in the world so I had a chance to record with a really excellent microphone. That contributes a lot to why the vocals sound the way they do.

DRE: Does it enhance your voice?

BB: It is somehow very sympathetic to my voice. Its very hard to say, especially to someone who is not an expert, what a microphone really does. I guess when it comes to vocal microphones you can have a problem with them and if you dont have a problem with a microphone then its good. Youre singing into a microphone then you go back and listen to it and it sounds good then I guess its a good one.

DRE: The press I read about why you named the album, Perpetual Motion, seemed a bit cryptic.

BB: Its Perpetuum Mobile not perpetual motion. Its in the English dictionary. It exists in this language.

DRE: What made you decide to name the album that?

BB: The lack of better possibilities. I think that was an emergency solution. We decided on that because at least it is halfway English and was not necessary to translated into any other language. We stuck with that. We had a long discussion with the record company and the supporters at Neubauten.org and we ended staying with the middle solution of keeping it Perpetuum Mobile. Everything else would have been too complicated to translate.

DRE: Why such a long delay between this and the last album?

BB: We have released several records such as an album in 2000, a double live album and a soundtrack so it seems we have released more records in these couple of years than we usually do. But the fact is in 2000 for the tour we did for Silence is Sexy was the last obligation we had for the last record contract. We basically had no more record contract and we werent shopping for a new record contract either. For a while we thought wed call it a day. It was only when we started Neubauten.org and the concept was presented to us to make a record solely financed by the supporters that we decided to start recording again. We didnt even know we were going to make a record for the public. We didnt know that we were going to make another record for Mute Records. We just started out making the record with the contributions from our supporters and in the end we released the so-called Supporters Albums #1. Out of that material and additional material we actually put together an album for the public. We only did that because we noticed that if we want to go on tour we need to have a record in the shops otherwise we probably would not have done this at all. Somehow when we started recording again we thought we wanted to go on tour again. Good old men that we are now, one last time. The third farewell tour. The first American tour we ever did we ended with the last concert ever.

DRE: I cant wait for the next farewell tour.

BB: The one that starts in February in Europe will be our last farewell tour. Im 45 years old.

DRE: Thats nothing.

BB: Nick [Cave] is 47.

DRE: What was it like broadcasting the entire process of making this album through the web? Did younger fans jump on?

BB: Certainly by outfitting the studio with web cameras and broadcasting the working process had a couple very positive effects on the band. One, discipline suddenly found its way into this band. After 24 years in existence people actually showed up on time for recording. That was great. In these two hour broadcasts our work would be concentrated and because there are hundreds of people watching you it creates a semi-live atmosphere. In that semi-live atmosphere you play with tension and concentration which enabled us to make a record in record time. Usually we would spend much more time finishing than we did. Basically we made in record in one year instead of 2 to 2 and half years. We only started making the record in August 2002 and by August 2003 it was finished which for us is pretty good.

DRE: I understand that Neubauten does everything in studio including the writing of the songs.

BB: Yes it is our studio. It is the first time we actually have a place where we work so everything is done in there.

DRE: Did anything come out differently than what you expected with all the new factors you added?

BB: I didnt really expect anything in particular. Were described very often as being a very conceptual band but when we start recording something new there is nothing that happens beforehand. I dont believe in premeditating what the record is going to be about. We start working and I actually find out what interests me. In that case after I noticed that basically the ideas that I wanted to explore all have to do with flux and movements. With changing of spaces, perspectives and I systematically try to explore instruments and materials that could best express that or would best lead me in that direction. It was a lot of working with pipes and air compressor instruments.

DRE: I did read that about 10 years ago you had someone construct a jet turbine for you.

BB: Its not a jet turbine. Its the innards of a jet turbine. The stuff that rotates inside one not to make a jet sound but it is similar to vibraphone. It doesnt have a rhythm but you can play on all the different rotating metal.

DRE: Did you have anything new constructed for this record?

BB: The one on the cover. Its a manipulated record player that you play with whats on the back cover. Usually its Andrew who comes up with new instruments but thats not built for eternity. It is a typical gaffer tape and polystyrene creation. Its not like he makes a drawing then builds it in his hobby room. It takes him ten minutes and there it is.

DRE: I read you improvise quite a bit. What about with the writing process?

BB: We started phase one of Neubauten.org with actually listening to the recordings of the last tour. On tours we improvise pieces onstage, they are called ramps. We listen to those ramps and we decoded on reworking one of them. That is how we started making the record. We worked on it then I tried to shelve it because it wasnt going to lead us anywhere. But the supporters insisted so much on us following that particular piece it actually made it to the final stages of the record. With the reworking of that, as I said, I realized what my interest was. I hired a couple of air compressors, pipes from hardware stores and we started the air compressor sessions then we did a session with birdcalls that didnt make it to the record. Thats basically the working process. If you want to call it writing then thats writing I dont know.

DRE: I did read that Ende Neu was a difficult album to record.

BB: It was tough to record because in the middle of making it two of the members left the band. So there was suddenly only three of us left which makes it a bit tough.

DRE: How did you start working with Mute Records?

BB: Since album number 2 some territories of the world we were always represented by Mute. The decision to go for Mute now was basically based on the fact that weve known them for a long time. I can trust [Mute founder] Daniel Miller. It was a personal decision because of course in Germany we could work with whatever major label but we needed someone to guarantee simultaneous international release so it ended up with Mute again.

DRE: How much of your work is done on the computer?

BB: Its all recorded on a computer but thats it. We used samplers in 1982 before they were called samplers. There was a function in some of the studio machine, which became samplers. It was called lock-in. I think the maximum amount you could lock-in was half a second. The working with samples is a very solitary business. If you are a one-man creator then working with samples could be fun but with a band its no fun.

DRE: Will you be working with Nick Cave again?

BB: No. I left the Bad Seeds and I have no desire to go back.

DRE: Were you in many bands before Einstrzende Neubauten?

BB: No just 20 years with the Bad Seeds and 24 with Neubauten. I have of course appeared on other peoples records and written soundtracks. But Neubauten is my baby.

DRE: What part of Germany did you grow up in?

BB: West Berlin.

DRE: Were you always into actual metal?

BB: I invented it. Anyone else could have banged on a trash can before that but they didnt do it in that category.

DRE: Did you go to college?

BB: No Im a complete autodidactic.

DRE: What were you like in high school?

BB: I didnt go. In Germany the school system is a little bit different. I dropped out when I was 17. Thats when I was unemployed so I lived on Social Security for a while then they put me into one of those state employment programs. I had to work in a graveyard but not as a gravedigger but I had to shovel soil around. After I quit I never got any money from the government again and decided to become a famous artist.

DRE: How did you first hook up with the people who became part of Neubauten?

BB: One of them I went to school with Andrew and hes the one I founded the band with. The others came about by the natural gravity that people have when they are in similar life situations and in the vicinity.

Our bass player, Marc, is now the vice-president of Sony Europe. It was funny we were looking for a new record contract. We asked Sony and we asked for an international deal and they came back and said that they had to ask Marc Chung and would that be a problem for me. I said it wasnt a problem for me to ask our ex-bass player if they could sign us. It was hilarious. Marc went completely professional and told us to send some demos. Marc actually discovered Fatboy Slim.

DRE: What are you listening to now?

BB: Right now I am listening to your questions.

DRE: Music wise because I cant sing.

BB: For a while the last couple of years when file sharing became more and more illegal it rekindled my interest in music quite a bit. I think in the late 90s I did not listen to any music anymore. When Audiogalaxy and all that was around I was able to discover interesting things and I bought more records in 2000 than I did in the entire decade before. Since that is all gone again Im back to square one and I dont know what to listen to. There is not much. Im pretty sure there is some but I dont know where to find it.

DRE: What about the bands that came after you in industrial music? Like Nine Inch Nails for instance.

BB: Trent Reznor used to come backstage at 80s concert. We were assigned to his record label for a brief period. But then the record label that owns his record label decided they dont want to release our records.

DRE: What was the reason?

BB: Seagrams acquired them. We gave them the album and said that Seagrams decided not to release the record. I asked if that was a joke. We make a record deal then they dont release it so we left them.

DRE: They decided to release another flavored gin.

BB: Now you have some detailed information on what I listen to. You think I listen to Nine Inch Nails? I know too much about it.

DRE: Skinny Puppy started after you but still in the early 80s.

BB: I have a different situation with them. They are also big admirers of Neubauten and come backstage as well. When we first played in Vancouver at the World Expo in 1980 whenever. They were responsible for setting up everything. They introduced us and we were always on friendly terms with them but I never listened to any of their records. Im actually looking forward to going to Vancouver and seeing them again. Are they still in existence?

DRE: I think theyre coming back together.

So the next album going to be called Grundstueck.

BB: Forget that its just a working title. Stueck in German means piece like a theatre piece. Grundstueck is an empty place where you can build a building. The Phase two we are working on will be a concert that will be filmed and recorded with a lot of supporters participation. That will be done in October. I dont know why you said October but it sounds good.

DRE: What do you think of SuicideGIrls?

BB: Its all right with me.

by Daniel Robert Epstein

SG Username: AndersWolleck