| This is an interview I did with guitarist, singer, drummer & producer Justin Broadrick of GODFLESH that appeared in the 1st issue of SATAN'S CANDY BASKET zine back in late 1997. This is a little "Treat" for all of you who never saw that issue! Hope you enjoy!!! |
| WHERE DID THE NAME GODFLESH COME FROM? Originally we wanted something short & concise that basically sort of literally explained the sound we were looking for. We had the name before we had the sound, we felt we had to live up to the name. It sort of creates a very powerful visual without being overly descriptive & we though it was quite ambigous. WHO ARE SOME OF YOUR MUSICAL INFLUENCES OR BANDS YOUR INTO? The initial influences of GODFLESH were like a real combination of mostly everything that was really melodramatic wether it be Rock or anything. Some of the major influences were BLACK SABBATH, SWAN, KILLING JOKE, STRANGLERS, CELTIC FROST, THROBBING GRISTLE & MELONCHOLLY. You name it, anything pretty visual or aggressive or just generally fucked up. We just appreciate music as a whole! WHAT IS THE THING YOU ENJOY MOST ABOUT YOUR MUSIC? It's ability to cross over many different catagories. For me personally is it's function to release a lot of artistic expression. It's really a lot of pent up aggression & emotion that I usually repress. I look at it like art, like a way of painting. Things that are emotionally moving or life changing. I WAS PRETTY IMPRESSED WITH THE VIDEO "CRUSH MY SOUL" ON THE EARACHE MY EYE HOME VIDEO. WHO DIRECTED IT & DID YOU HAVE ANY INPUT? Basically who directed it was a photo artist called Ron Fasaronga out of NY. We 1st came across his work in 991. It was a photo called "Piss Christ", which was a big controversy. It was a 12" statue of Christ on a cross suspended in a glass of piss. The look of that was so insane, but the concept & visual of it was so ridiculous. It is in a literal sort of experience to look at. We made only one album & didn't have a lot of money, so we just suggested this photo artist. They thought he would be creditable & quite controversal, so MTV banded it immediately. The 1st person I picked was Geiger, but he's done a lot & would be too expensive. We enjoyed this guys deep art so much we just let him have complete control. HOW HAS THE RESPONSE BEEN TO YOUR ALBUM "SONGS OF LOVE & HATE"? Generally really good! I think it's because it's the 1st time we included an acoustic drummer as well as a machine. We have always had live guitars & live vocals, but the whole vibe of GODFLESH was initiallt the fact that it was half mechanized. We felt that we pushed that as far as we wanted to take it. We added some grooves & variety with this drummer who was Brian who is now in PRIMUS. His energy & the way he drums is just superb. I think that gave the last album a fresh dynamic. WHAT MADE YOU DECIDE ON A REMIX ALBUM FOR THE NEXT RELEASE? We have been remixing our stuff over & over for years. We did an album in 1991 called "SLAVE STATE" & we remixed that. At that time EARACHE bunched it together to release as a remix album. With the new album "LOVE & HATE IN DUB" we remixed ourselves. It's our total reinterpitation of the songs on the studio record. We thought if we stripped everything back to it's componet parts it would be a completely different album. I just wanted to cut it up like crazy with computers & make something fresh. Something different, an alternative to the Rock album. I'VE ALWAYS FOUND GODFLESH'S MUSIC TO BE QUITE ORIGINAL, WHAT INFLUENCES YOU TO WRITE IN THIS STYLE? Some of it is the goals that we have to reach in an average GODFLESH song is in a way an abstract element. It's just got to be unusual hopefully in that aspect. For us it's knowing the perameters of what you do & trying to stick in them. If we can literalize what we are trying to do we feel we have achieved something. I see GODFLESH being comfortable by being uncomfortable & not fitting in. DOES IT BOTHER YOU WHEN OTHER BANDS BORROW FROM THE STYLE YOU CREATED? It didn't initially, but it has become quite evident of some elements of GODFLESH in an awful lot of music from other bands. It has become quite complimentary that a lot of people have taken some elements from our band. It's been a healthy thing helping me push forward, which is good. I'm all for anything that pushes forward. It is a healthy & positive thing if it helps in a new creation or mutation. HAS YOUR MUSICAL TASTES CHANGED OVER THE YEARS? I've always related & been touched in certain areas. Some areas more avidly as in music that has matured itself. I find that with Techno stuff, like a lot of the Techno stuff from the 80's. It was never too extreme, it was always sort of plain with not much aggression or abstraction. In the last 3 or 4 years the whole Techno sound has become more warped sounding, like it has matured into other forms. In Europe we have other sounds like Jungle, which is a mutation of Hip-Hop & Techno. I got heavily into that, more into a technological & less into Rock. IS IT CHALLENGING FOR YOU REPRODUCE YOUR MUSIC LIVE? It is really, we find it quite hard work. Not that it's hard work to reproduce, but going through the motions is hard work. Some times it's hard to sustain the passion. I always want to translate the same passion that's on the record. Some times when you do 20 or 30 consecutive shows, playing the same sets, it's hard to do that. I never want to appear as a band going through the motions. I want to give 100%, which is more of a challenge. |
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