Interview with german dark electro / experimental formation NETZ [by Egor Jikharew, special correspondent of gothic.com.ua in Belorussia]

German project NETZ: (Felix Baumgartner : music and electronics, Angelo Ferroni : vocal; Tommas Leeb : music and electronics) - have been around since 1992, crafting live performances designed as multimedia events with synchronized slide shows.Intelligent technoid with potent german vocals and delicious samples. A kind of melodious electronic-body-music, focusing on dry, cold sound patterns. The music isn't typical industrial tones by any stretch either, but seems to be its distant cousin. The deep vocals are delivered with an almost mechanistic style, that when combined with the German or English lyrics, simply translates into something quite futuristic. Musically unique of its kind to say the least, NETZ employ the dance convention of early EBM glorious days, reinterpreted through a synthetic texture flirting with clinical technoid movements. In that mix, cold and almost robotic vocals are used to drive the songs with a level of true synthetic music, rather than delivering the usual vocoder's harshness, or submit to the clear voice maneuvers. A certain level of humanity is hidden behind the cold wall of sound, provided by lyrics giving a more or less dark portrait of the relation between human kind and technology.

After maxi-cd "AUF EWIG"(1997), NETZ's first release, people began to notice these guys and their new style of electronic music. Their style is one all electronic, endlessly complex music which is very addicting once you've been exposed. NETZ has appeared on a number of compilations in the past, including "FLATLINE-COMPILATION 2" the second copilation of german label FLATLINE RECORDS is as good as the first one! you can find the NETZ remix from the IN STRICT CONFIDENCE song "INDUSTRIAL LOVE" on it. A collaboration between the trio and dark-electro icons IN STRICT CONFIDENCE, taking the classic of the late "INDUSTRIAL LOVE" further with a future-pop character; surely the most achieved version of the song available.

The first album "WERK 01"(1999) closes with a remake of IN STRICT CONFIDENCE's "INDUSTRIAL LOVE". It is no mystery then that the canadian label ARTOFFACT RECORDS grabbed these artists when they was on FLATLINE. This label has had a growing reputation for providing the world with musical art coupled with intensity. NETZ clearly fits the bill and should become one of their most prominent selling bands before long if given the appropriate amount of publicity thrust they deserve.

The overall tone with second album "WERK 02"(2001) combines darkness, futuristic mechanizations, depersonalization and turmoil. Clearly, these tracks are just as comfortable in a film score as they are on the dance floor. Some artists tend to have difficulty translating their musical work into an English interpretation. Those who have witnessed RAMMSTEIN's English version of "DU HAST" could appreciate these sentiments. NETZ however glide easily between the two languages without losing a step. In either language, the full range of the emotive dialogue is allowed to shine in their perfunctory delivery. The tracks are delivered as spoken recitations with a few sparsely sung vocals tossed in from time to time in order to shape the songs further. Man and machine have fully acclimated in their world, and this is their testament to it.

The group did concerts together with TERMINAL CHOICE, DE/VISION, HEADSCANE, SUICIDE COMMANDO, L'AME IMMORTELLE, NOISEX, WELLE ERDBALL and others... The most creative project in memory: this is electronic power pop.

Below you can read answers to questions of exclusive interview which the group has given specially for UKRANIAN GOTHIC PORTAL.
FB: Felix Baumgartner.
EJ: Egor Jikharew (UGP)

EJ: Could you formulate your musical credo for people who know nothing about NETZ?
FB: First of all: thanx for this interview! NETZ sees itself as an art- and music project. that means that we do not only produce music, but have a special focus on combinig different styles of art. this usually happens when we play our music live (we have a slide show, some special masks and clothes, a puppet on a string for the song "puppen" and so on...) our idea is to be something like a mirror for the world we live in. we describe things, but we seldom claim what we considder to be good or bad. NETZ sound is pure electronic sound that doesn t fit in one of the known genres or styles. We call it "electronic power pop".

EJ: Where're sources of your today's inspiration hidden?
FB: The inspiration is the everyday s live! So many things do happen all around us, in the family, in politics, in religion, in human relationships and everything you can imagine. that s an endless source! Talking about music we are - of course - inspired by some well known bands and people. KRAFTWERK, DEPECHE MODE,OSCAR SALA, JEAN-MICHELE JARRE, LEAETHER STRIP, CLOCK DVA and many many more. But it s not our aim to copy one of them, it s only good to know them!

EJ: What visual images can you connect to music of NETZ?
FB: Ha - that's a difficult question. Even the three of us have different pictures in mind when listening to our own music. When we are on stage we have some slides for each song to support the mood that the song creates! For example for the song "WISSEN SCHAFT" we did a serie with some well known people like Mme Curie, Jesus, Karl Benz (and some more) and for each of this persons there is an additional picture showing, what he or her created: the atomic bomb, religious wars, cars... in general the visuals have to fit to the music and therefore appear rather emotionless and static.

EJ: How much time do you spend in the studio? And what do you like to do outside of the studio?
FB: At the moment we choose one weekend per month to meet each others at the studio - that is not very much but enough to do all the important things - and the pre-production of our new release werk03 is done now, so that we can concentrate on other things. every now and then the one or the other of us spends "lonely nights" at the studio and creates something new. You should know that we don't live at the same place and each of us has a "normal" job to do, that s why we have to plan our meetings. But things like this interview for example, or organizing technical things or preparing new pictures and other show elements can be done within the working week and do not necessarily have to be done at the studio.

EJ: How would you describe a sound of NETZ?
FB: The NETZ sound is a rather cold sound, monotonous and melodious at the same time. We allways create our own new rhythms and try to combine very clear and nice sounds with rather hard sounds. That's why you can listen to our music at the clubs as well as at home or anywhere else.

EJ: Many compositions of NETZ sound very complex and, at the same time, melodiously. Do you simultaneously try to be clear and complex?
FB: In the early years our sound was rather clear - but indeed - it seems that we get more and more complex with each new release. The question is: what is important to "make a song a song"?! We would never put more into a song than necessary, but even this purism can lead to very complex songs. Sometimes we have up to four melodies running simutanously. Depending on how the song is mixed you will rather hear the one or the other. That s why the final production is always a very interesting thing!

EJ: Some of critics tried to compare NETZ to KRAFTWERK (I personally don't agree with this). Is it a true parallel? What's your opinion?
FB: KRAFTWERK are the pioneers of electronic music and they created a sound and - and that s maybe more important - a mood that is very hard to be copied. We love the KRAFTWERK sound, but it was never our intension to be something like the new KRAFTWERK for the new millenium - or whatever. when we arrange a song we experiment a lot and when we re done it usually sounds typically like us - NETZ.

EJ: > EJ: Who is a leader in the group?
FB: There is no! NETZ is a democracy. Everyone can do what he wants. Some people might think that Angelo is the leader because he is the "frontman" and singer when we are live on stage. But at this happenings he plays his role while Thomas and Felix are playing their roles as technicians. That s part of the concept.